First season at 1. FC Köln
©IMAGO
High-flyer Said El Mala is outshining everything at 1. FC Köln this season. With a market value of 35 million euros, he is the most valuable player in the club’s history and will probably generate record income in the summer. His strike partner Ragnar Ache, who has also been playing for FC this season, has just as many goals as El Mala: 15 in total. “I feel like I’m still too rarely seen, even if I’ve scored a few goals,” the former Germany U21 national player tells “Kicker”.
The Domstädter brought Ache from 1. FC Kaiserslautern for 4.5 million euros, where he had 19 scorer points in the 2nd league – 18 goals and one assist at the time. For Cologne he shines with eight goals and seven assists. No other FC professional has more assists. “Part of my job is to secure and forward balls. I prefer to leave the spectacular things like dribbling to Said El Mala or Jakub Kaminski. If I can pass on them or run at the opponent, then I’ve done my job. But that doesn’t feel like I’m standing out – like Said, who dribbles past five people and then shoots into the top corner.”
Ache scored perhaps the most spectacular goal of this Bundesliga season: he scored with an overhead kick in the 2-2 draw against Hoffenheim. “I’ll never train that again,” said Ache when asked about his dream goal. “If I try again and it doesn’t work, the magic is gone.” He sees his strengths in other areas: “I know that I’m not a dribbler, so I don’t even try. Everyone has their job, and mine is to secure the ball and pass it on. Then the other boys can shine.”
When he transferred to Cologne, Ache had a market value of 7 million euros – which he increased to 8 million euros as part of the Bundesliga update in March. This puts him in third place in the FC squad after El Mala (35 million) and Kaminski (12 million). With a squad value of 137 million euros, the Domstädter are in 15th place in the league’s internal comparison, and in the Bundesliga table they are in 13th place, five points ahead of the relegation place. “We have it in our own hands, we still play against Heidenheim, St. Pauli, Union and Bremen,” said Ache. The 3-1 win against Werder was the first three-pointer after eight games without a win. Since parting ways with coach Lukas Kwasniok, his assistant coach René Wagner has taken over and gotten four points from two games.
About his new interim coach, Ache said: “He tries to bring joy, even though we have always been a good team as a team. That is probably the most important thing that René passes on to us.” In terms of the table, FC can expect what is supposed to be the second easiest remaining program in the relegation battle on the last five match days – the average table position of the opponents is 10.2.
