Eleven goals with 19
©IMAGO
Relaxed and happy, Said El Mala chatted about his record in the catacombs of the Cologne stadium. With his eleventh goal of the season, by far the most valuable player in FC history not only initiated the important 3-1 win against Werder Bremen, El Mala also stole a record from club icon Lukas Podolski. The 19-year-old is now the youngest FC player to score eleven goals in a Bundesliga season – and a farewell in the summer is becoming increasingly likely.
“When you break records and they were from Poldi, it’s something special,” said El Mala. “I see it as confirmation of the achievement. I’m happy that I cracked it. I hope someone else can top it at some point. It’s a nice award.” El Mala scored from a penalty kick in the seventh minute. It was a spontaneous decision that he took the penalty. “We didn’t have a shooter before the game. Said took the ball because he felt good,” said coach René Wagner.
“It was actually my first penalty,” admitted the U21 international and added: “There was pressure too. It wasn’t an easy decision to take it. But I was up for it. I wanted to score again. So I just took it.”
In the end there was Cologne’s first league win since the end of January. In the Bundesliga table, the Domstadt team in 13th place are now five points ahead of FC St. Pauli in the relegation zone. If Cologne wins the direct duel in Hamburg on Friday, things will look very good about staying in the league.
“There is a lot of energy for the next games,” said El Mala, who also spoke about Coach Wagner’s great trust in him. Under the 37-year-old, who took over as head coach from Lukas Kwasniok, FC picked up four points in two games. “We have grown together even more as a team in the last few days and weeks. (…) I feel the trust, I have an open exchange with René. We chat when something doesn’t fit, but we also chat when something is important. I feel the trust extremely, but I don’t rest on it. With the support of the coach it just makes it easier,” said El Mala, whose relationship with his predecessor Kwasniok was considered very strained.
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Despite this fact, it will likely be the last season for the youngster in the cathedral city. El Mala, who has a contract with FC until 2030, indicated his departure after the game.
“We have confidential discussions with Thomas Kessler, we are honest and open to each other,” said the U21 international, who was courted by the English first division club Brighton, whose market value had risen from 3 to 40 million euros. Basically he feels good, but: “I can’t say what will happen. But I still have five games left and I’ll give it my all.” When asked again about his future, he said: “I can’t say.”
Seagulls coach Fabian Hürzeler spoke publicly about El Mala for the first time. “He’s definitely a good player, an exciting player – but in the end he’s a 1. FC Köln player. He’s not a player for us. If he becomes a player for us, I’ll deal with these things too.” Last week, Kessler denied that there was an official offer from another club on the Rhine, and a threshold for transfer fees had not been defined internally. If sold, El Mala would definitely become the most expensive departure in FC history.
