The question is when the demand will arise to put a memorial to Steffen Baumgart next to the Müngersdorfer Stadium. The coach of 1. FC Köln was asked to go to the south curve on Saturday afternoon to be celebrated by the fans after the wild, stunning 4-1 (0-0) in the Rhenish derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach. For his part, the Rostock drew his cap in front of the supporters. Shortly afterwards he was again factual when he said: “We are happy about the result today. But we know where we come from”, so you have to stay on the ground.
One thing made him proud, however: “Gladbach is, and I will stay, one of the best teams in Germany. You have to fight them – and we did it.” Especially since 1. FC Köln scored four goals against Borussia for the first time in a quarter of a century.
It was the unexpected turn of a day that nobody knew how it would turn out. Sport was initially in the background, and the pandemic also played a disconcerting minor role at first. The local trams wobbled on their way to the arena to the rhythm of the rumbling chants, crazy fans from the guest camp set off two terrifyingly loud firecrackers in the stadium, and the 50,000 spectators sat and stood close together. Vaccinated and recovered, but also with explosive incidences and full intensive care units. The health policy spokesman for the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia, Peter Preuss, then also said still on Deutschlandfunk, With today’s knowledge, the approval would no longer have been granted. Of course you asked yourself what was different a few days ago.
At first glance, the clash of eternal rivals looked like a normal derby. But at the latest the repeated reminders of the stadium announcer to please wear the anti-corona masks on the pitch (which often did not happen), reminded of the extraordinary background noises of this 93rd Bundesliga clash. While the number of viewers across the country was reduced, Cologne was once again able to receive at full capacity.
Gladbach against Cologne, that was the first corona ghost game in March 2020
That gave the game a curious note: Gladbach versus Cologne, that was the name of the first Corona ghost game in March 2020 (apart from the thousands of unteachable Gladbachers who sang outside the stadium like a gigantic fan ball in front of a closed goal). Now it could be that this duel was the last in the Bundesliga with full ranks for the foreseeable future. “I don’t think that will happen. Football has good concepts” against the Corona crisis, said Baumgart – but he may be too optimistic. He’s also guaranteed not to take the train to the stadium, which is even tighter than later in the stands.
It was compulsory to wear a mask in the Cologne stadium – that could not be implemented. Here you can see the Gladbach block, but in Cologne it looked no different.
(Photo: nordphoto GmBH / Meuter via www.imago-images.de/imago images / Nordphoto)
The game quickly turned attention to the sporty. The FC started briskly against their fearful opponent, against whom Cologne had only won twice in the past ten home games. Baumgart’s team was greedy as usual when hunting for second balls. The people of Gladbach had brought their finer feet with them from paper. Nevertheless, from the 25th minute onwards, the Cologne team not only appeared more energetic, but also more focused. Hector brilliantly extended a corner to Modeste (35th), who headed from five yards – Gladbach’s keeper Yann Sommer reacted excellently and steered the ball over the goal.
That seemed to wake the guests up. With a first good counterattack, Patrick Herrmann came to an end with the full tension, Cologne substitute goalkeeper Marvin Schwänke showed a brilliant save (42nd). A minute later, Denis Zakaria came free from a corner kick that ricocheted off the post. Were the people of Cologne scared? No way. They came out of the cabin electrified. Even the injury-related replacement of their captain Jonas Hector did not shock the team. After a fine combination on the left wing, left-back Benno Schmitz put the ball back on Dejan Ljubicic, who scored 1-0 (55th).
Both teams hit the aluminum twice – Gladbach has bad luck twice, Cologne twice luck
As in the first half, that was exactly what sparked Gladbach. Schwabe saved twice for FC, once the post (against Pléa, 62nd), but when Patrick Hermann scored 1: 1 (74th), “the game seemed to turn over”, as Baumgart and guest coach Adi Hütter thought. But even now the course of the game mocked all expectations. That had to do with the daring offensive changes that Baumgart had made before the equalizer – and with blackouts at Borussia.
The Cologne team received two unexpected gifts from their feared opponent: First, substitute Florian Neuhaus from Gladbach played a grotesque bad pass, which substitute Mark Uth caught. His low shot jumped from the inside post into the net (77th). Not even 90 seconds later, Gladbach’s central defender Nico Elvedi put another treat in the pre-Christmas gift basket: he unintentionally stopped the ball in the six-yard area for Ondrej Duda, a chance that the Slovak could not miss – with thanks to Yann Sommer, who was not too tough Shot under his body.
And because one last punch line was missing: Sebastian Andersson, who came on as a substitute, of course, put a buttery cross from substitute Louis Schaub with an artistic header against the crossbar, from where the ball hit the line and then hit the goal. “It wasn’t a 4: 1,” said Steffen Baumgart, to make it clear how close the game was for a long time. He was right. And yet it was completely wrong.