Everyone later talked about Martin Terrier and his goal to make it 1-0 for Bayer Leverkusen. Was it, as he himself translated from football French, a “scorpion”? A variation of René Higuita, who, when he was in a good mood, did his goalkeeping job by jumping forward and kicking the ball away from behind with his heels? Or was it not more of a skillful imitation of the one-legged donkey kick? Or just a lucky hit? Only people who think that a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III or a Lancia Fulvia Coupé are just cars would claim the latter. Tin cans that were used for transportation.
The Cologne players demonstrated their connoisseurship and acknowledged their fascination with beauty. Eric Martel later awarded the title “world class”, while defender Sebastian Sebulonsen couldn’t suppress an appreciative smile at the opponent’s prank. Even if this 0-1 meant that 1. FC Köln had ended up on a path at Bayer Leverkusen from which there would probably be no turning back given the way the game was going: namely the so-called loser’s road. And that’s how it was: Leverkusen won the Rhenish derby 2-0, “I think it was well deserved,” as not only Robert Andrich said. Martin Terrier gave the decisive impetus with his magic goal.
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The 28-year-old attacker had not yet been able to really show what artist he was made of. After moving from Rennes to the Rhineland in the summer of 2024, he tore his Achilles tendon in the winter. It took nine months for his comeback, and since then he has had to make do with short stints. On Saturday evening he also came onto the field as a substitute, after the second touch of the ball and barely four minutes later he was in danger of being crushed by his teammates. So many people threw themselves at him that there were possibly stewards and other passers-by mixed in with the crowd.
The goal brought relief in two ways: for Bayer 04, who had staged a constant siege of Cologne’s penalty area since the start of the second half, but were unable to score the opening goal. And for Terrier, who does not find his current situation in Leverkusen to be satisfactory. He said on Saturday evening that he didn’t know anything about being in the reserve. He was an established Ligue 1 player in France before moving to Leverkusen for a fee of €20 million. “Martin is pushing, and yes: he could play more,” admitted Bayer coach Kasper Hjulmand.
But first we had to celebrate the “magic moment”, as Hjulmand put it. This goal was certainly the best goal of his career, said Terrier when he explained the origin of the story: “It’s a striker’s instinct. I didn’t think at all at that moment. I think I was too fast and was too far forward, the cross came a little behind me. Then I just tried it. I wanted to take the ball like that.” On the edge of the scene, Andrich, once again in charge of defense, watched the proceedings: As a spectator, he “trembed” Terrier’s ball, which, it really seemed like it was slowing down over goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe and into the far corner. Afterwards, there was amazement, and not just from Andrich: “I stood on the field and asked myself: Did he really do it like that?”
The organized Cologne fan scene leaves the stadium in protest, the Leverkusen ultras join in later
The fact that Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok politely but explicitly refused to make a glowing comment about the goal in conversation with the ZDF reporter had nothing to do with the fact that he did not recognize the beauty of the 0-1 result. He was just in a bad mood because, firstly, his plan to counter it with his own offensive hadn’t worked. And secondly, because he didn’t like the trend in his team’s performance. Rarely had 1. FC Köln looked as much like an outsider this season as they did on Saturday evening: There was “not much to talk about,” Kwasniok commented frustratedly, he could always see the difference between Champions League aspirants and promoted teams, and he remained pessimistic even when the score was 0-0 at halftime. “We have no chance today,” was what went through his head, as he later revealed: “The mind and legs weren’t good enough for that.”
It was discussed on the sidelines whether the departure and the absence of the Cologne Ultras might have weakened the FC team. 500 to 600 fans, large parts of the so-called active scene, had left the Leverkusen venue because one of the spokesmen had been searched so thoroughly by the police that it was perceived as invasive. The person concerned had to undress largely in a separate room for police matters. Although no Bengalo was found, the police said they were “passively armed”. More precisely: a face mask as a precaution in the event of a fight. This was found in the victim’s underpants. At the command of their highest representatives, the organized crowd then left the stadium grounds in protest. The Leverkusen Ultras later joined in solidarity after burning off their extensive pyro arsenal at the start of the game.
But Kwasniok isn’t a fan of excuses, and this time too he preferred to remain honest: “It’s a shame that the fans weren’t there,” he said, “but Hamburger SV had 15,000 fans in Hoffenheim today – and still lost 4-1.”
