Borussia Mönchengladbach won a sometimes heated Rhein derby in the Bundesliga against 1. FC Köln 5-2 (2-1). Marvin Friedrich (27th minute), Ramy Bensebaini (45th/74th), Lars Stindl (47th) and Marcus Thuram (90th) scored the goals for Gladbach. Florian Kainz (31st) with a penalty and Denis Huseinbasic (81st) provided the Cologne goals. Kainz had to leave the field shortly before the break with yellow-red.
FC equalizes the lead immediately
The game began with a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the attack in Halle three years ago. Marcus Thuram had the first chance in the game (8th). After about 30 minutes there were goals to marvel at: Friedrich headed a corner kick into the net to give Gladbach the lead.
On the other side, FC was awarded a justified penalty just a minute later after video evidence. Jonas Hofmann had fouled Kainz – he converted confidently.
Baumgart: “More than a yellow card”
But the game was one thing above all: tough. Almost every foul was discussed in round one with the good referee Sven Jablonski. Stindl and Kainz saw yellow cards for fouls in the early stages.
Seven minutes before the break, Bensebaini found Dejan Ljubicic, who had to pull out injured. “That was the key scene for me”said FC coach Steffen Baumgart: “With speed, ankles below and knees above, that’s more than a yellow card for me.” Things are not looking good for Ljubicic, he will probably be out for a longer time.
Kainz flies off the pitch before the break
Cologne will have to do without one more player in the next league game: Kainz caught Hofmann with his elbow in his own penalty area and, despite protests, was rightly sent off with yellow and red. Bensebaini, of all people, who, according to Baumgart, had already heard of the pitch, converted the penalty kick into a 2-1 lead at the break.
However, the unlucky raven from Cologne quickly realized his offense after the end of the game: “Really unlucky, I just look at the ball and hit the opponent. It’s a clear penalty, but obviously a very bitter scene.”
Gladbach dominates in the majority
Borussia got off to a dream start in the second half: Stindl shot from distance 90 seconds after the restart and the ball landed in the bottom right corner. The FC was now clearly outnumbered, Thuram missed the fourth goal for Gladbach (53./58.). Bensebaini followed up after a great attack, Huseinbasic briefly gave the guests hope.
To be rated positively: The guests never gave up, but had another chance through Mark Uth (88th). Nevertheless, it was no longer enough to score a goal against the superior hosts. Instead, Thuram made sure of the final score.
Cologne demanded in Belgrade during the week
On matchday 4 of the Conference League group stage, 1. FC Köln have to play away in Belgrade (Thursday, October 13th, 2022 at 6:45 p.m.). In the Bundesliga, the billy goats receive FC Augsburg three days later (3.30 p.m.) and are able to eradicate the derby bankruptcy. Borussia Mönchengladbach is away to Wolfsburg (Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 3:30 p.m.).