Of course, the game between Bayer Leverkusen and 1. FC Köln is a real “derby,” said Bayer coach Kasper Hjulmand on Friday. The Dane, who arrived here, probably didn’t know that he had strayed into a political field with this well-meaning decision. FC’s orthodox supporters have reserved the term derby for the encounters with Borussia Mönchengladbach, and they disdainfully call the game against the industrial club on the right bank of the Rhine a neighborhood duel – their way of denying Leverkusen’s sporting dominance that has existed for decades.
The police, however, assessed the facts differently; they viewed the meeting as particularly explosive and were apparently so thorough in their checks on away fans that those affected felt it was excessive. The word “naked controls” was making the rounds, and the clubs involved were unable to confirm this after initial research, but parts of Cologne’s active supporters – 500, 600 fans – headed home in protest before kick-off.
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The atmosphere in the Bayarena was still heated. You could almost talk about a derby atmosphere. And that’s how the Bayer 04 fans felt in the end. “Derby winner, derby winner, hey,” they shouted in unison when the game was over and their team had won 2-0. The Cologne supporters, the few who remained, remained sadly silent. After being able to keep up to a certain extent until the break, your team was taught a lesson in the second half by the Bayer team, which was superior in terms of play and had a speed advantage.
The result was merciful, but Cologne can at least claim that it took a dream goal to beat them. Substitute Martin Terrier scored it by kicking the ball into the net in the 66th minute. A definitely eye-catching goal, absolutely worthy of a derby. “The victory was a must,” said sports director Simon Rolfes on Sky. “If you lose two Bundesliga games in a row, you have to win the next one, not just because of the derby, but also because of the table configuration.” Leverkusen has jumped back to a Champions League place.
In the second half, the picture from the first minutes of the game is repeated
Before kick-off, the list of participants was missing the name of a player who is a constant main player in Kasper Hjulmand’s squad this season, Leverkusen’s Leonardo di Caprio, so to speak. But this game would have been one too many for Alejandro Grimaldo, who had apparently been overstressed recently, according to the medical department. However, the absence of the captain, who plays several main roles at Bayer at once and therefore already has the reputation of having entangled the team in a relationship of dependency, was hardly noticeable at first. Ibrahim Maza, also in top form for weeks, replaced Grimaldo as the creative protagonist.
Bayer rarely allowed Cologne’s offensively formed team to reach the halfway line in the first quarter of an hour. In addition to the celebrated left winger Saïd El Mala, Lukas Kwasniok also fielded Marius Bülter and Gian-Luca Waldschmidt and thus claimed an offensive, self-confident participation. But the FC was almost exclusively occupied with defense. Marvin Schwäbe took center stage for the first time after nine minutes when Christian Kofane marched towards him alone – the goalkeeper covered the shot path and parried the shot from the center forward, who replaced the injured Patrik Schick.
However, no matter how effectively the agile Maza and the Spanish helmsman Aleix García carried the balls forward, their teammates could not always respond to the high level of the two. Jonas Hofmann, Malik Tillman, Arthur and Ernest Poku repeatedly made technical errors that made things easier for the Cologne defense and gradually took the pressure off of them. And after twenty minutes, FC reported their first successful advance: Waldschmidt narrowly missed El Mala’s cross.
The spectators now saw more often how the game changed direction. Here Waldschmidt challenged the Bayer keeper Mark Flekken, there Robert Andrich put a free-standing header past. As was the case on Wednesday in the 2-2 draw against Newcastle, Andrich was in charge of defense in the center of defense and seems to have found a new task for the time being. He was the central support of the defense.
The break went goalless, but Cologne could be happy with themselves after the difficult start. But in the second half, the picture from the first minutes of the game was repeated: Bayer dominated with quick rallies, and now the opportunities were piling up. Tilmann headed towards Schwäbe on his own – and miserably shot the ball into the fan block. Maza forced Schwäbe to react quickly, and Kofane also came close to taking the lead. The score was 0-0, but disaster for FC was on the horizon almost by the minute. Finally, it took a trick from the French Terrier to overcome Schwäbe (66th). “Of course he does it in a world-class manner,” said FC defender Eric Martel. “I don’t know if he wanted it that way. He just wanted to keep his foot in, the ball then falls in perfectly, it can’t be defended.”
Andrich’s 2-0 header from a corner kick followed just six minutes later, and Kwasniok took action and disarmed the attack department. El Mala left, largely unregistered, the defender Özcacar came. And FC accepted defeat.
