Max Finkgräfe almost became the match winner for 1. FC Köln. In the end there was great disappointment about losing two points. The votes for the 1:1 draw in Hoffenheim.
On Saturday, Max Finkgräfe practiced free kicks after the final training session at Geißbockheim. Nothing unusual for the 19-year-old. “I train free kicks every day and take ten balls after training,” said 1. FC Köln’s new shooting star after the 1-1 draw at TSG Hoffenheim.
The reward for the hard work in the daily work came on Sunday in Kraichgau with Finkgräfe’s twelfth Bundesliga appearance. In the 79th minute, the defender asked for the ball after a foul on Linton Maina – and the fouled player gave it to him. The left-footed player finally circled the ball into the net from 25 meters to make it 1-0 for FC.
6,000 Cologne fans in the stadium
Finkgräfe immediately turned away and ran to the around 6,000 FC fans who had traveled with him and were mostly dressed in costumes. The youngster lined up in front of the away corner and let out his scream of joy. “Max is doing outstandingly at the moment, that’s why he really deserves the goal. He’s good to work with,” said teammate Benno Schmitz after Finkgräfe’s dream goal.
In the end, however, the German Sports University student’s first Bundesliga goal only helped to a limited extent. Shortly before the end, the billy goats managed to equalize through Andrej Kramaric through carelessness. The votes from Cologne were correspondingly unhappy after the two lost points.
The voices for the game
Max Finkgräfe: “I’m happy about my goal, but it feels more like a defeat. I practice free kicks every day, take ten balls after training. I asked for it and got the ball. I thought to myself: This is it now “That’s what I train for every day – that’s what it has to be. Every point helps, we have to get positive things out of it.”
Benno Schmitz: “Hoffenheim were perhaps a bit better in the first half, but the second half was even. If you get a goal like that in the 94th minute, it’s incredibly bitter. Our focus is on stabilizing our defense. We were very close “To keep a clean sheet again. At the front we have to do it through individual actions, in home games it’s easier for us. Now it’s important to stick with it.”
Florian Kainz: “If you get the equalizer in the 94th minute, it hurts a lot at first. Especially in the situation we are in, three points would have done us a lot of good. We worked very well against the ball, threw everything in, We played very disciplined tactically – but with the ball today it wasn’t as we had imagined. Then Max scores a great goal and we have to look at what we need to do better in the last few minutes in order to win “Of course, Hoffenheim threw everything forward, we allowed ourselves to be pushed a little too deep at the back and didn’t manage to establish ourselves at the front.”
“The Hoffenheim team perhaps didn’t expect that”
Marvin Schwäbe: “A goal like that is always extremely bitter, you have the feeling that you have left two points behind. But we have to take the positive with us. We got a point, it is extremely important and it was more than deserved today. Hoffenheim have in the last five We threw everything forward for a few minutes, which is difficult to defend. We played football for long stretches and implemented our match plan, exploiting Hoffenheim’s weaknesses. Especially in the second half, we tried to be courageous going forward and keep the one -on-one situations. The Hoffenheim team perhaps didn’t expect that.”
Timo Schultz: “We have a point more in the table, even if it felt a little different immediately after the final whistle because of the late goal. The draw was deserved. We did well in terms of defensive organization for a long time, but didn’t manage to exploit our counterattack situations “As a result, we didn’t have enough clear chances to score. Hoffenheim had the clearer finishing situations. So we have to be happy with the 1-1 draw.”