Thanks to Davie Selke, 1. FC Köln wins the basement duel at Darmstadt 98. For the first time since the beginning of September, the Rhinelanders are above the line.
Steffen Baumgart warmly hugged his match winner Davie Selke, and his players high-fived each other on the pitch, completely relieved. For the first time since the beginning of September, 1. FC Köln is greeted by a non-relegation zone. Selke (60th) provided relief at the front, at the back there was a clean sheet for the first time in 20 league games – thanks to the 1-0 (0-0) against favorite opponent Darmstadt 98, FC is above the line at least for one night.
“We are in a relegation battle, victories count for us. It was extremely important,” said Selke on “DAZN”: “We always said we wanted to talk less and do more. It was a successful evening.” Defense chief Timo Hübers praised the team’s performance: “It was good as a group.”
The Cologne team remained unbeaten in the ninth Bundesliga game against the Hessians. There still needs to be a further improvement at the end of the year against the other direct opponents in the table cellar – ultimately a successful set piece on Friday evening was enough for the second win of the season.
Darmstadt, for its part, is slipping deeper and deeper into the crisis and has now been waiting for a threesome for six games. The Lilies are in the relegation place behind the Rhinelanders because of the worse goal difference.
Before the game, Baumgart described the relegation battle as a “very, very close snail race”. He believes that “a few points are enough this season.” This makes the direct duels like on Friday evening all the more important. “We should be on equal terms,” said the 51-year-old. This prediction came true, both teams largely neutralized each other.
The game was characterized by intense duels in midfield, but there were few highlights of the game. Darmstadt’s Tim Skarke fired a first warning shot that was a little too high from 20 meters (12th), while on the other side Florian Kainz aimed flat from 25 meters (16th). After Kainz-Grätsche, Lilien playmaker Marvin Mehlem had to go out after a good 20 minutes, and veteran Tobias Kempe came on.
VAR concedes goal and penalty
From then on, Cologne took control of the game and tried to approach the goal through a calm build-up. However, this only succeeded sporadically, as the league’s weakest offensive lacked ideas and speed. The Hessians, who surprisingly lined up with a back four, waited deep for quick transitions, but there were only a few counterattacks. There was no shot on goal in the first half.
Baumgart, visibly dissatisfied, made a change at the break, brought on 19-year-old Max Finkgräfe and Luca Waldschmidt for Luca Kilian and captain Kainz – and switched to a three-man chain. The game now became more open and approaches to the goal increased. After Erik Martel lost the ball after a counterattack, Skarke aimed just centimeters past the right (55th), on the other side Dejan Ljubicic (57th) and Waldschmidt (59th) tested SVD keeper Marcel Schuhen.
After Waldschmidt’s corner, Mathias Honsak unfortunately extended the ball to the first post so that Selke was able to slide the ball into the goal at the far corner. As a result, first a goal by Waldschmidt was taken back because of offside (66th), then, according to video evidence, a supposed hand penalty for Darmstadt (71st).