1. FC Cologne
“Annoying for everyone”: El Mala with miss of the year
April 25, 2026 – 9:33 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Said El Mala probably made the miss of the season in 1. FC Köln’s 1-2 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen. Coach René Wagner found encouraging words.
His twelfth goal of the season was ready on a silver platter, but he didn’t grab it: Said El Mala missed the goal in the derby defeat 1. FC Cologne against Bayer Leverkusen, probably the best chance of the season. After 35 minutes, the Billy Goats’ high-flyer grabbed a back pass from Leverkusen that was too short, went past goalkeeper Janis Blaswich and towards the empty goal. But El Mala didn’t hit the net from a tight angle, just hit the post.
“It was annoying for everyone in the stadium, for us as well as for him,” said coach René Wagner after the final whistle and initially refrained from talking to El Mala about this huge opportunity, which should have led to Cologne’s 1-0 win. “Nobody needs to talk to Said today – he knows that himself and he really isn’t doing it on purpose.”
Wagner instead talked about El Mala and praised: “To get into the situation, you have to invest a lot, and he did that. That wasn’t the only chance Said had.” El Mala fired nine shots on goal – as many as the entire Leverkusen team. Even in the early stages of the Rhenish derby, he could have given Cologne a deserved lead against the top team from the neighborhood.
However, his chance in the 35th minute was undoubtedly the best opportunity and will probably be remembered as Cologne’s miss of the season. “He’ll probably wake up tomorrow and still be a little annoyed. But at some point he should forget about it,” hopes Wagner.
Coach Wagner is “incredibly proud” of 1. FC Köln
At least the striker still managed to collect his 16th scorer point. For Luca Waldschmidt’s goal to make it 1-2, El Mala did the preparatory work – perhaps somewhat involuntarily after he got stuck in the Leverkusen defense with a dribble. “He played a good game, sacrificed himself, had chances, pushed hard, worked hard. That’s the basis,” Waldschmidt also praised his teammate’s performance.
Meanwhile, Wagner was “incredibly proud” of the whole team, which at times outplayed Leverkusen with a total of 24:9 shots on goal. “It’s not easy to achieve such a performance against an opponent like Bayer Leverkusen,” noted the FC coach and was “disappointed that we weren’t rewarded for this performance and can celebrate in the dressing room.” He still had courage for the remaining three games.
