From 47 meters – Tigges puts the cherry on the Cologne cream cake
1. FC Köln made a brilliant return from the winter break. After taking a 5-0 lead at the break, the Rhinelanders didn’t let up against Bremen in the second half either. Werder experienced a historic debacle.
BAlready at half-time the Cologne fans were rubbing their eyes in amazement. Your FC led 5-1 against Werder Bremen. There had only been five goals after 45 minutes in the club’s history, in May 1977 against Bochum. For the Bremen team, five goals in Bremen’s long history in the Bundesliga were a novelty.
The preliminary decision against the Hanseatic League had already been made 3-0 after 20 minutes, after half an hour it was 4-0, and the fifth goal came just six minutes later. And it wasn’t over yet. In the end it was 7:1 (5:0) with a dream goal from double striker Steffen Tigges, who scored his second goal from 46.7 meters – what a furious cold start after a long winter break.
With the highest Bundesliga victory in almost exactly 40 years, Cologne moved up to one point behind Bremen in ninth place. Werder last lost that much 36 years ago.
The people of Cologne celebrated a 90-minute party
Source: dpa/Rolf Vennenbernd
Linton Maina (9th) and Steffen Tigges (15th/21st) ensured an early lead after three Bremen dropouts. Ellyes Skhiri (30th) and Denis Huseinbasic (36th) increased to 5:0. Skhiri (54th) increased after the break with a remarkable scissors shot. Bremen’s Marco Friedl (76th) scored an own goal, the Werder goal by national player Niclas Füllkrug (38th) was far too little. Bremen’s unlucky person was Füllkrug’s strike partner Marvin Ducksch, who initiated the first two goals in Cologne and thus the debacle.
Selke on the bench, Friedl in his own network
Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart had kept his word: after the FC coach had revealed his entire starting XI in an unusually open manner, he allowed his team to play in exactly the announced formation in the first game of the year. Ex-Bremer Davie Selke, who was brought in from Hertha BSC in the winter, initially sat on the bench. When he came after 58 minutes, it was already 6:1.
But even without him, FC quickly launched an offensive firework display. The early lead resulted from a completely unsuccessful free-kick variant by Bremer Ducksch and Anthony Jung, before 17 seconds later Maina completed the counterattack that had already been played twice. For the 23-year-old, who came from Hanover in the summer, it was the second goal in his 24th competitive game for Cologne, the first at home.
And the people of Cologne quickly followed suit: Ex-Bremer Florian Kainz, who had extended his contract during the week until 2025, conquered the ball after Ducksch’s bad pass, and Tigges completed the ball from ten meters with his left. Six minutes later, the striker scored from a greater distance than any other Bundesliga player this season – and again he benefited from a complete stoppage in Bremen. Mitchell Weiser, who grew up in Cologne youth, put his goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka in trouble with a back pass, the Czech saved the ball, but played it in the middle of Tigges’ foot. The 24-year-old took the ball over the halfway line and shot it into the empty goal.
Werder frustration: Niclas Füllkrug scored the only Bremen goal but had no reason to celebrate
Source: dpa/Rolf Vennenbernd
The Cologne team continued to act in a frenzy: After Maina slipped, the ball flew through the entire penalty area and Skhiri pushed in from behind. Huseinbasic scored after Tigges had put it down before Werder showed a minimal sign of rebellion with a header from Füllkrug. The Bremen fans sang ironically: “Away win, away win!” Instead, the Cologne party and Bremen’s nightmare continued right after the break – to make matters worse, with the own goal.
