1. FC Köln came back impressively from the long winter break – and with the incredible 7-1 win over Werder Bremen they achieved something that hadn’t happened in 40 years. Thank you to many, but especially to match winner Steffen Tigges.
Caught 7-1 against Bremen, probably his greatest Bundesliga night to date: striker Steffen Tigges.
IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
With one goal and two assists and players who were regularly overrun or tricked, Linton Maina was one of Cologne’s guarantors of success in the 7-1 gala against Werder Bremen, who unsurprisingly received loud applause when he was substituted late.
The attacker, who switched from Hannover 96 to “Effzeh” on a free transfer last year, didn’t want to stand out in particular after the end of the game. On the contrary, Maina was overjoyed with the performance of the whole team and after the poor series before the long winter break (one draw and four defeats in five league games) recognized major improvements: “We were all on fire, really wanted to – and you believe that I saw.” Especially the big chances that were often wasted before the turn of the year, which were used on this Saturday, made the attacker happy: “We have dealt with the topic in the two months and have looked at all these wasted scenes. We are working more and more on the goals – and you saw that too today.”
Florian Kainz saw it the same way: “We played a great first half – and the chances, some of which we missed before the break, went in today. We played full-throttle football, just as you know it from us.”
Bavaria? “It happens to them more often”
But Florian Tigges certainly had the greatest share in this clear success, the first game with seven goals for Cologne since 1983 (7-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt). The striker was on the spot with two goals and two assists before the break and had a goal from over 45 meters after an unfortunate clearance by SVW keeper Jiri Pavlenka.
“It was an outstanding performance in all parts of the team,” Tigges was happy for the team – and added: “In the end, of course, I also benefited from it, even if it’s a team effort overall.” You always benefit from each other when things are going well. “We saw a huge team effort. We accomplished everything we set out to do. It’s a perfect day for all of us – outstanding.”
The “Effzeh” continues on Tuesday evening (8.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) when the Bundesliga hosts an English week as part of the 17th matchday. Then the Rhinelanders make a guest appearance at champions and league leaders Bayern Munich. A clear thing for the Cologne fans, because they sang loudly after the final whistle: “Take off the lederhosen from Bayern.” Will it happen?
Coach Steffen Baumgart slowed things down a bit: “It was a game that you won’t see often. We score five goals from the first five shots on goal, then it just goes your way. But everyone here knows how to classify it, it’ll start again tomorrow very calmly and matter-of-factly going forward. With Bayern we have a team in front of us on Tuesday that has already shot down a number of opponents in this way. That happens more often with them.” But Tigges is certain that the FCB stars of this 7-1 win at 1. FC Köln “will look at how we play – and certainly not take it lightly. Because we won’t hide in Munich. ”
