The 1. FC Köln has to move its celebrations. The competition makes the billy goats a line through the promotion calculation.
Had the players of the 1st FC Köln gathered at the Geißbockheim on Saturday afternoon in the hope of being able to celebrate the premature ascent together? Or had you secretly expected that the competition would not do your favor? In any case, Pizza and Kölsch didn’t get anything with the early climb.
The FC professionals came to the Geißbockheim shortly before 1 p.m. and had gathered in the office. But after a quarter of an hour it was clear that they would not celebrate that day. Elversberg finished Braunschweig quickly, led 3-0 early and brought the victory confidently over time. Paderborn, on the other hand, had to tremble, and almost it would have been enough for FC at least a partial success.
Magdeburg took the lead with a penalty with 0: 1. If the SCP hadn’t won the game 2-1 in the end – the Cologne would at least have been sure to have reached at least the relegation. So it remains even after 33 match days that the billy goats are not yet through. With three points ahead, but the worst goal difference in the trio, the bill for the final act is easy.
If the FC wins against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in a week or at least get one point, the billy goats return to the Bundesliga. If the Cologne residents lose, neither Elversberg nor Paderborn should win. In theory, FC could even fall back in fourth place and thus completely miss the climb. So everything is still open.
A reason for unrest? Not for Friedhelm Funkel. The head coach also came to the Geißbockheim on Saturday and quickly turned the non-promotion celebration together. “This team no longer needs team building,” said the 71-year-old when he left the Geißbockheim. “The boys deserved to look together yesterday.”
In general, the results had not surprised the coaching veteran. “Elversberg in particular was too constant for that,” he said. “Now we’ll get up next week. We want to win, even if a point would be enough for us.” The FC is still in a comfortable starting situation. Even if the pressure has not become less.
The players and coaching team pulled off then on Saturday afternoon and went to their weekend. On Monday afternoon, the billy goats start with the preparation for Kaiserslautern. If the FC repeats the strong performance from Nuremberg, the chances of promotion are good. Funkel is aware of this. And so he left the green belt satisfied on Saturday.