Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart has recently noticed misconduct by fans in various places and is hoping for more peaceful football in the future.
“We’ve seen enough nonsense not only here, but also in other stadiums,” said the 50-year-old before his team’s second leg in the Europa Conference League against OGC Nice on Thursday (9:00 p.m. / RTL). “It would be nice if everyone slowly remembered that football means something different for everyone: fun and joy should be the priority.”
Encounter with explosiveness
The Cologne team’s first leg in southern France is mainly remembered for the violent riots. There had been several injuries. A fan had fallen from the upper tier of the audience. Baumgart had seen the riots in the stands up close because he had been suspended for the game.
The encounter on the last day of the group match is also sportingly explosive. Both teams are still playing for the first two places, which would guarantee them a hibernation in international football.
“Regardless of the fact that the teams will of course go into the game with a lot of passion because both teams want to win this game, I just hope that we learned from the first game that it doesn’t work that way,” said Baumgart with a look to the riots on September 8th.