22nd matchday
Werder sets Rehhagel record – setback for Cologne
Werder shot to victory in Cologne as a joker: Justin Njinmah (l). photo
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
This matchday start is a real bore! Thanks to a joker, Werder Bremen won 1-0 in Cologne. The Cologne fans’ protest is at best creative.
Setback after carnival for Cologne, Rehhagel record for Bremen: 1. FC Köln, in the bottom of the Bundesliga table, missed a great opportunity to put all the competitors in front and behind them under pressure.
At the start of the 22nd matchday, Cologne suffered a 0-1 (0-0) home defeat against Werder Bremen. Instead of temporarily reducing the gap to 15th place to two points, the lead over the two direct relegation places threatens to shrink after the second defeat in the sixth game under coach Timo Schultz.
Bremen’s first win in Cologne since December 2005 was secured in the 70th minute by Justin Njinmah, who had been substituted just four minutes earlier, in a weak and often boring game. With their third away win in a row without conceding a goal, Bremen equaled a 42-year-old club record set by legendary coach Otto Rehhagel. With Cologne now 13 points ahead of Cologne in the relegation place, staying in the league should be a formality for the Hanseatic League. At least temporarily, Bremen even jumped to seventh place, which could be enough for participation in the Conference League at the end of the season.
Creative protest by the Cologne fans
The most creative were the Cologne fans, who, in their protest against the planned entry of an investor into the German Football League, threw not only tennis balls but also small remote-controlled cars onto the pitch and held up the poster with the inscription: “We won’t allow ourselves to be controlled by remote control”. The game was interrupted for a relatively short two and a half minutes in the second half.
Last year, Bremen suffered their worst defeat in 36 years when they lost 7-1 in Cologne. There were seven players from the starting line-up from 13 months ago at FC and only four at Werder. But this time it was the guests, who had changed in three positions compared to the 1:2 against Heidenheim, who stepped on the gas right from the start. After eleven seconds, Marvin Ducksch shot from the turn past the top right corner of the goal, and after 47 seconds, the Bremen striker was denied by FC keeper Marvin Schwäbe.
Cologne with problems in the game structure
A few seconds later, Cologne also presented their first promising attack. But after the wild minute and a half at the beginning, the 100th Bundesliga duel between the two former champions quickly calmed down. The Cologne team in particular once again revealed their well-known problems in building up the game.
The 50,000 spectators had to wait half an hour until the next somewhat exciting goal area scene. But all the excitement was in vain because FC captain Florian Kainz didn’t hit the ball correctly when he took it directly from ten meters. Cologne now had opportunities through Jan Thielmann (32′) or Dejan Ljubicic (34′), but no goal was really in the air.
Werder’s Friedl saves just before the line
Significantly, the first big chance of the second half almost led to an own goal: After a corner, Cologne’s Timo Hübers directed the ball with his upper body just outside his own goal (61′). Then Joker met Nimjak after a misunderstanding between Schwäbe and Luca Kilian.
On the other side, Marco Friedl saved just in front of the goal line, Werder goalkeeper Michael Zetterer then held on to the ball just in time and prevented Cologne from equalizing (75th).