Those involved were pretty much at a loss at the end of a wild afternoon of football, which this Rhenish derby between Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1. FC Köln had turned into after a tough start. “We’ll take the point with us, I’ll still decide whether I should be happy or angry,” said Cologne defender Timo Hübers after the 3:3 (1:1), during which his team led twice, but then still at some point was down 3-2, while Gladbach coach Gerardo Seoane said: “We’re going home with mixed emotions today.”
The game was full of mistakes and shortcomings, but at the same time it produced shining derby heroes on both sides. Gladbach’s two-time goalscorer Robin Hack, for example. Or Faride Alidou, who gave Cologne the lead 1-0 and 2-1. And the 19-year-old junior player Damion Downs, who scored the 3-3 for FC and scored the first goal by a Cologne substitute since the start of the season.
When the game was whistled, a neutral silence fell over the stands because no one could really be happy. “It’s hard to grasp this game,” said Cologne captain Florian Kainz.
FC had lost two leads and the Gladbachers continue to have major problems in showcasing their individual strengths against weaker teams. That day, the rivals from the relegation zone also took the lead with their first halfway sorted offensive action: Faride Alidou got the ball on the right wing after a pass from captain Florian Kainz, who had returned to the team, and sat down against the much too carefree player Luca Netz passed through and simply shot at the short corner of the goal.
The Gladbach keeper Moritz Nicolas left a gap there and directed the ball into his own goal (7th). Surprisingly, Borussia in particular played without the derby energy that is usually present in such games at the beginning, acting unfocused and careless.
No choreo from the fans
Maybe it was because even the fans seemed a little inhibited after they had been disturbed while preparing a choreography the evening before by a group of fans who had traveled from Cologne. The police had to intervene, took 131 people from Cologne and 74 people from Mönchengladbach into custody and the planned choreo had to be cancelled.
And on the pitch, the flow of the game was repeatedly interrupted by inaccuracies in the first half hour; Scenes in the penalty area were rare. Once Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe directed a shot from Florian Neuhaus onto the post (9th), and Timo Hübers played a bad ball through the center in the build-up game, Sargis Adamyan was not awake enough and missed the chance to repair the mistake. Neuhaus then played to Franck Honorat, who equalized (32′).
Daniel Theweleit, Cologne Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Published/Updated:
Now the game became a little more lively, after it had previously been played at a rather weak level. The teams’ many mistakes, even after the break, contributed more to the many goals than the teams’ footballing quality. Following a shot at the post by Gladbach’s Neuhaus (53′), a standard situation led to Cologne taking the lead again. Again Kainz provided the assist, Alidou scored again (64th), who now seemed to be on the direct path to the role of the hero of the day.
But then Robin Hack came into the game, who turned the game around within three minutes and finally added a good dose of derby magic to the event. In the 70th minute, the attacker replaced Manu Koné, in the 71st he headed a cross from Joe Scally into the goal before finally scoring from the crowd to make it 3-2 (73rd).
Now a real derby had ensued, the stadium shook and the Cologne coach made a surprising change. The 19-year-old Damion Downs, who after three short appearances in the first half of the season had mainly played for the Cologne regional league team, came into the game for Alidou (75th) and scored shortly afterwards to make it 3-3 (79th). Hack found this final turn of the afternoon “sickening,” especially since he himself missed a last good chance to win in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
