The overture of this Rhenish derby was reminiscent of the old days, when a very stout manager ruled the city on the right bank and a sporting emergency on the other side of the river. This time, too, it was about the eternally unevenly distributed resources popularity – advantage Cologne – and finance – advantage Leverkusen. The trainer Steffen Baumgart was particularly exposed in the debate. Although he comes from the far north, he got involved as if he had been born in Cologne’s legendary Severinsklösterchen.
Whether Baumgart’s disgruntled remarks about the allegedly malicious poaching of the talent Florian Wirtz from 1. FC Köln actually influenced the mood of the audience cannot be scientifically proven – the reception for the 18-year-old national player in his old homeland was definitely unfriendly .
Whenever he got anywhere near the ball, whistles began to sound. At first he seemed impressed by the resounding rejection, but very soon it no longer needed to interest him. Bayer Leverkusen had used the most effective means to cool down the heated atmosphere: Two early hits into the Cologne goal took the tension off the game and the majority of the fans in the Müngersdorfer stadium the good mood.
Hardly any eyewitness would have thought it possible that this game would end in thunderous applause when the score was 2: 2. Anthony Modeste had turned the match with two goals in the second half and made for a happy Cologne audience.
Instead of playing according to plan, left-back Frimpong slams the ball against the Cologne crossbar
Not a contradiction: while Bayer Leverkusen gave up two supposedly safe points on Sunday, 1. FC Köln really deserved this one point.
The impression of the first few minutes made the Cologne fans fear, however, that their team would pick up where they left off last weekend at 5-0 in Hoffenheim. The template for the 0: 1 (13th minute) came from Cologne center forward Modeste, who opened the Leverkusen counterattack with a failed diagonal pass.
Via Robert Andrich and Moussa Diaby, the ball got to Patrick Schick, who completed it in proper style. Nothing looked difficult on this move, which was due to the ripped-off approach of the Bayer players and the only passive participation from Cologne. The FC defense seemed even more clumsy and disorganized at 0: 2, in which the vainly reviled Wirtz also played his part with a fine lob. Karim Bellarabi finally did the job of punishing Cologne’s confusion with a goal (17th).
It looked like Bayer had the game under control against genuinely trying but harmless Cologne players, and that was probably also the point of view of the Leverkusen players, who were extremely generous with their opportunities. The fast left-back Jeremie Frimpong shot a double-majority counterattack with a long-range shot against the crossbar (25th) – instead of a systematic pass to one of his freestanding colleagues, other negligently wasted opportunities followed.
The Cologne team accepted the invitation and fought their way back into the supposedly lost game, header chances for Modeste and Hector made unmistakable signs of life before the break.
After the break, the same picture emerged as before. Desperate stormy hosts allowed the guests one counterattack after the other, which – one after the other – was increasingly miserably wasted.
The 1: 2 by Modeste was then only logical, especially since Bayer’s unfortunate defense chief Jonathan Tah had made a serious miscalculation on Hector’s flank. The Cologne equalizer (82nd) was also the result of a beginner’s mistake from Leverkusen: Throw-in Kingsley Ehizibue, Patrick Andersson header extension, Modeste header – deserved reward for the center forward, who had long since atoned for his 0: 1 mistake with many good deeds, and became an outstanding player advanced.
Florian Wirtz had already left the field by then, hardly anyone had noticed. The game had better stories.