Not very many friends of 1. FC Köln had believed that Anthony Modeste would once again become a real pillar of his team. After his return from China, the hero of the legendary season, at the end of which the club qualified for the European Cup in 2017, was mostly injured. He looked aged and didn’t score a single goal in the last Bundesliga season.
At the start of the new game year, the 33-year-old Frenchman became one of the main characters in the 3-1 win against Hertha BSC Berlin. He scored the first goal himself, prepared the second, and Cologne has another really dangerous offensive. Because Mark Uth was also an asset, and the winger Florian Kainz scored two goals for 2: 1 (52nd) and 3: 1 (55th).
The Cologne team was behind early after Stevan Jovetic dusted off after a free kick from close range (6th). For much of the first half it was pretty quiet in the stadium. Up to Modestes 1: 1, the game of the Rhinelander reminded of the weaker phases of the previous season.
Compensation as liberation
The compensation produced the effect of a liberation and seemed to rob the Berliners of all their self-confidence. The Cologne team was very lucky in this key scene that the referees did not intervene. Modeste had used both arms to keep Márton Dárdai at bay.
In the course of the second half they earned their goals with a lot of passion and an increasingly strong footballing performance. The guests from the capital, on the other hand, couldn’t think of much.
The new signing Kevin-Prince Boateng remained pale and was replaced after an hour. And when Santiago Ascacíbar managed to score a goal after a free kick, he was just offside (81st), so the Cologne team played their first victory in peace.
Replaced after about an hour: Kevin-Prince Boateng at the Bundesliga opener in Cologne
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Image: dpa
“The boys can step on the gas. They did that. They stayed on schedule even after falling behind, ”said Cologne coach Baumgart, who is the first coach since Volker Finke to win his Bundesliga debut with 1. FC Köln. Hertha returnees Boateng, however, was unhappy. “We had big plans,” he said. “After the 1-1 draw we break in and don’t come back into the game.”
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