The promoted celebrates when returning
© Imago
Marius Bülter had Bundesliga returnees celebrated 1. FC Köln and his new coach Lukas Kwasniok for the start of the season. Thanks to the late header of the striker in the 90th minute, the Rhinelanders came to a 1-0 (0-0) at the decimated FSV Mainz 05. In front of 33,305 spectators in the sold -out Mewa Arena there was still a lot to do with both teams.
Four days before the second leg in the Conference League qualification against Rosenborg Trondheim (first leg 1: 2), the home side mostly acted without ideas. In addition, the team of chief coach Bo Henriksen wing racer Paul Nebel lost after an hour with red due to an emergency brake. During his debut in the football Oberhaus, the 44-year-old Kwasniok made a white home jersey with red stripes.
Mainz 05 and attacker Nelson Weiper had ended her disputes right before the league start. The 20-year-old returned to the squad. There are “targeted discussions about an extension of the contract that is currently still dated until the summer of 2026,” said the zero five. Weiper was last banished from the professional squad because he had not agreed to extend his contract early. His club wants to prevent the own plant from changing free of charge next year.
Weiper first sat on the bench, as a center forward the ex-Berlin Benedict Hollerbach rose. The newcomers Marius Bülter (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) and Jakub Kaminski (VfL Wolfsburg) stood in the long harmless attack. After the upheaval with more than a dozen obligations, the Cologne and Kwasniok are still in the finding process.
Before the game, FSV coach Henriksen had given the whip in front of the fan curve as usual. After an extremely successful past season and the departure of striker Jonathan Burkardt to Eintracht Frankfurt, the home side hoped for their home strength. Most recently, they had remained unbeaten in 13 games in front of their own audience.
Kwasniok was startled in the 2nd minute. After a wide ball of captain Nadiem Amiri, the guests were just able to block the shots of fog and Anthony Caci. Kaishu Sano’s deflected ball hissed past the goal.
After just a quarter of an hour, Hollerbach hobbled with a connected thigh – and Weiper returned faster than expected, but remained unobtrusive. However, both teams struggled to the front. Especially since the Cologneers acted extremely carefully and largely left the game to the opponent. Only Kaminski checked the Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner shortly before the break.
The FSV keeper suddenly got to do after the change of sides. Jan Thielmann and Kristoffer Lund did not meet from a promising position. Then Nebel Kaminski stopped with an emergency brake and referee Tobias Stieler showed in the red. The Cologne team appeared increasingly braver and rewarded themselves late with the winning goal by the ex-Hoffenheim Bülter. Shortly before the end, substitute Cologne offensive newcomer Ragnar Ache had to get off the pitch with a knee injury in added time.