It was the fly in the ointment of a game that was so appealing from a Cologne perspective. In the 0-0 draw against Leipzig, Davie Selke had to leave the field again with a knee injury just 13 minutes after being substituted on.
Davie Selke was only on the pitch for 13 minutes against Leipzig before the striker had to leave the field again due to a knee injury.
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“We just have to hope it’s not that dramatic,” said coach Steffen Baumgart. For the third time since arriving in Cologne in January, Selke was slowed down by an injury. After two lighter cases, this time he got caught after a head-on collision with Leipzig Josko Gvardiol. “Because of the aerial duel, he was slightly dazed and couldn’t control how he landed and then had an unstable feeling in his knee. He doesn’t know that, he’s never had it before,” explained Christian Keller.
The first diagnosis gives hope for Selke’s return soon
Even though the managing director gave the all-clear, FC are worried about the 28-year-old, who came on a free transfer from Hertha BSC. “The doctors looked at it: The knee was stable in the first check. Now we’ll see how it develops on Sunday. If necessary, we’ll do an MRI. After the first diagnosis, it shouldn’t be anything that will cause him problems for a long time,” explained Keller.
The worries about Selke clouded an afternoon that had otherwise gone according to the taste of Cologne. Finally, the FC convinced against the title candidate with a courageous performance in which one was on an equal footing with RB. “It was fun from the first to the last minute. There was a lot of fire in it, a lot of emotion in it. That’s how I imagine a football game to be,” enthused Baumgart rightly.
Cologne happy about “really great performance”
So much courage, so much passion, so high intensity, but also good things with the ball – on the other side of the Rhine in Leverkusen, they would be happy if they could present a similar mix to FC. The Cologne formula is signed and supported by all those involved. Or as winger Linton Maina puts it: “It’s just great fun for everyone to demolish the 125 to 130 kilometers as a team every weekend. You can see that from the outside too.”
As a matter of fact. The playing style cultivated by Baumgart awakens feelings of happiness from the audience to the players to those responsible. “We’re totally satisfied. We put in a really great performance against a really good opponent,” said Keller, visibly impressed by the 90 minutes, “between the 50th and 75th minute we were clearly the better team. Only he did that lacked the final punch to take the lead because then we would have pulled that thing over to our side.”
Only a win could have increased the sense of well-being. After the 1-1 draw in Munich and the 0-0 draw against Leipzig, FC will have their third chance of beating a big player this calendar year against Frankfurt on Sunday. “One day we will win against these teams too,” said the winger. And nobody wanted to contradict him.
