Dhe Super Bowl party that the Frankfurt players had planned for the evening after Sunday’s Bundesliga work will probably be good for the team spirit, but the Cologne team certainly celebrated the more lavish party after their 3-0 victory over Eintracht.
A few days before Weiberfastnacht, the great carnival feelings blew through the stadium on Sunday evening, which under other circumstances would also have interested Oliver Glasner. On the fringes of the game, the Frankfurt coach said that there was a phase in his life during which he was an enthusiastic carnival enthusiast. He doesn’t have enough time for that now.
opportunities not used
It’s different for the members of 1. FC Köln, where the fun partying is an integral part of the club culture. However, the Rhinelanders didn’t play in a particularly colorful jersey as they usually did in the days surrounding carnival, but in a simple traditional shirt. The club is celebrating its 75th anniversary this Monday; and after this precious win against Frankfurt, the mixture of a milestone birthday, upcoming session highlight and Bundesliga success resulted in a big party in red and white.
But things could have turned out differently if Frankfurt had made better use of their opportunities in the first half. After 16 minutes, Eintracht was unlucky that they were not awarded a penalty. Cologne’s Eric Martel had bent towards the ball with a very active movement, which resulted in contact in the area between the shoulder and upper arm.
Kolo Muani forgave
Referee Daniel Siebert checked the scene after a tip from his video assistant on the screen, but decided against the penalty whistle. And yet this situation was an expression of Frankfurt’s slight superiority in the first half. “There’s really world class on the pitch,” said Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart about Eintracht before the game, perhaps thinking of Kevin Trapp and Mario Götze, but first and foremost of Randal Kolo Muani.
The attacker from France also initially presented a lot of goal threat, but was unlucky. Tuta won a ball against Jonas Hector early in the game, whereupon Jesper Lindström could have passed the ball to Kolo Muani, who was completely free in the area of the penalty spot, but did not act precisely enough (12′).
However, Kolo Muani missed the best chance of the first half himself, when he ran freely towards the Cologne goal after a pass from Lindström, but hesitated until Benno Schmitz, who was sprinting from behind, was able to chip the ball off his foot (25′). An intensive phase followed without any exciting situations in the penalty area, because the team from Cologne worked very concentrated and the team from Frankfurt didn’t want to take too many risks.
search for reasons
“Cologne puts a lot of pressure on, but if we free ourselves from the pressure, then there are spaces, but it’s very difficult to get there in Cologne,” was Glasner’s prognosis for the game. So it was. “Today in the last third, especially in the penalty area, we managed to get the ball to our own man,” said Sebastian Rode when asked about the reasons for the defeat.
After all, the trainers from Eintracht’s youth training center were able to enjoy Denis Huseinbasic during the less exciting phases, who played for Frankfurt between 2013 and 2019 and has now arrived in the Bundesliga after an intermediate step at Kickers Offenbach in Cologne.
However, it is not enough for the high level of Eintracht, from which it can by no means be deduced that the Champions League participant should win such a game in a relegation candidate. The Cologne team play tough and also pretty smart, as the opening goal showed. A well-rehearsed corner was taken briefly, allowing Florian Kainz to cross from the half-field and find Timo Hübers, who headed in to make it 1-0 (49th). Djibril Sow had lost sight of the central defender, who was not only conspicuous because of his goal. This moment “somehow brought a break in us,” said Rode.
And the 2-0 also came after a short corner, this time Frankfurt were in the attack, which could then be countered. The fast Linton Maina had a lot of space after a long ball, played to Sargis Adamyan, who initially failed due to Trapp, but Ellyes Skhiri, who ran with him, headed the rebound into the empty goal (71′).
That was a hard blow for the favorites from Main, who still had a chance through a strong volley from Philipp Max (74th), but was now clearly inferior. The 3:0 that Skhiri scored after a weakly deflected long ball decided the game.
The Frankfurters missed the opportunity to jump to fourth place in the table and fall back a bit in the tableau, while the Cologne team is getting further and further away from the relegation zone. “I’m angry,” Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner told the private broadcaster DAZN, “we were better between the penalty areas, but you don’t win games with that.”
