The opposing team of coach Domenico Tedesco – driven by 15,000 fans – managed to overplay FC’s attacking line again and again and thus came up with dangerous actions. Christopher Nkunku with a fantastic free kick (25th minute), Olmo (54th) and Angeliño (57th) sealed the defeat of FC, who had not lost away from home since October 30, 2021. The Cologne goal by Tim Lemperle in injury time was not enough (90+1).
Overall, FC lacked the penetrating power. It may also have been due to the failure of goalscorer Anthony Modeste, who was ill. The Frenchman has scored 14 of Cologne’s 33 goals so far and was difficult to replace with Sebastian Andersson. The Cologne team were too harmless, but convinced their coach with their fighting spirit: “Football is often judged by results, but I want to see what the boys get out of it until the end,” said Baumgart. And that is exactly what was the case.
Due to the defeat, Cologne missed the leap to fourth place in the Bundesliga table, which the Leipzigers have now achieved. Baumgart does not want to compare himself to RB. “If we were as far as Leipzig now, then we would be talking about the Champions League,” the coach clarified. The goal of the currently seventh-placed Cologne team, on the other hand, is to stay up in the league.
