The 59th minute of the game had begun when an expectant murmur went through the stadium in Müngersdorf. After a short vertical pass, the Cologne attacker Faride Alidou suddenly stormed through a deserted front garden towards the barely guarded Frankfurt penalty area, and the murmur in the area increased when Alidou passed the ball at the right moment to Florian Kainz, who was running along with him. Now one more cross to Jan Thielmann, who is lurking in the background, and the counterattack would be perfect…
Well, the cross came, but it didn’t arrive, it sailed meters high over Thielmann, and the murmuring in the stands turned into a grumbling. Once again, 1. FC Cologne lacked the core competence of a Bundesliga team. Another matchday without goals seemed to be imminent. Against Eintracht Frankfurt, FC didn’t play like a relegated team again, but they again presented themselves goalless like a relegated team.
But this time the opponent jumped in. Twice, Eintracht helped the always eager, but mostly harmless people of Cologne to help themselves, the diva from the Main showed solidarity to the diva from the Rhine and invited her sister to three points. When referee Timo Gerach ended the game, 1. FC Köln had won 2-0, for the first time since the derby win against Mönchengladbach in October, the home crowd was able to celebrate a victory, which, in addition to a small move up in the table, was also the Hope is raised that they will be able to defy the adverse conditions in the relegation battle. The improvement in performance of potential key player Dejan Ljubicic may have given coach Timo Schultz a good feeling for the next tasks.
Ironic note: The man who labeled the guests losers is an Eintracht player. With his fiery effort, Cologne’s Frankfurt loanee Faride Alidou not only caused Niels Nkounkou to be sent off, but barely a minute later he also scored to make it 1-0 (67′). He respectfully refused to cheer, but that was of little use to his employer. Frankfurt was also the inspiration for Cologne’s second goal by the hard-working substitute center forward Jan Thielmann (80th). Defender Hrvoje Smolcic played the bad pass for the perfect counterattack, as if he wanted to immortalize himself with a scorer point. The fact that the Frankfurt team lost another man through a dismissal shortly before the end – Tuta had received a second yellow card – rounded off the visitors’ help.
Hugo Ekitiké remains on the bench for a long time
The hosts’ victory was definitely deserved. The people of Cologne shone with fighting spirit and resilience: “We invested everything – as always,” noted Kainz. Nevertheless, until Faridou’s moment of glory, it didn’t necessarily look like a game with goals. Eintracht let the ball circulate and flashed their superiority, but showed no noticeable interest in finalizing their attacks. Tellingly, defender Robin Koch came closest to scoring when he headed narrowly wide from a corner kick (28′). Former Cologne player Ellyes Skhiri saved himself a guilty conscience when he failed to get the ball past FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe shortly before half-time.
Center forward Sasa Kalajdzic first really caught our attention when he took part in cleaning the lawn in the second half during the Cologne fan curve’s protests against the DFL investor – by eating a chocolate thaler. Much-touted signing Hugo Ekitiké, brought in from Paris Saint-Germain in the final minutes of the transfer window, spent much of the evening on the substitutes’ bench. He was on the pitch for three minutes when the score was 0-2, which weakened Frankfurt’s spirits.
While the whole of Cologne is now heading into the carnival week feeling stronger, the professionals are left out of the great days. At the weekend they travel to Hoffenheim for the game. “The brakes are the order of the day at carnival,” reported Captain Florian Kainz.