In the Hoffenheim game against Cologne it looked like a zero score for a long time. But the final phase still held a lot of excitement.
1. FC Köln narrowly missed another important victory in the relegation battle. A week after the celebrated 2-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt, the “Effzeh” missed another win against TSG Hoffenheim and ultimately had to live with a 1-1 draw. In a tough game it looked like a draw between the two teams for a long time. But Max Finkgräfe gave Cologne the lead with a direct free kick in the 79th minute. However, it wasn’t enough for victory because Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramarić was able to equalize in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
With the draw, Cologne remain in 16th place and are now four points ahead of Mainz and Darmstadt, who are tied on points, in the direct relegation places. At the same time, they are four points behind the saving bank. Hoffenheim continues its negative streak and remains without a win for the eighth game in a row. TSG is in ninth place in the table with 27 points.
This is how the game went:
In front of 23,020 spectators, the host European Cup candidate was long closer to victory in a very mediocre game. The many loud Cologne fans who traveled along temporarily transformed the arena into a home game for their FC. For the guests, who had to play without the injured offensive players Davie Selke, Mark Uth and Luca Waldschmidt, Luca Kilian played in central defense for the ill Timo Hübers.
At TSG, head of defense Florian Grillitsch was already acting as a ball distributor from the back in the build-up game, but there was initially a problem in the front third. Ihlas Bebou missed after just under a quarter of an hour from a promising position. Goal scorer Andrej Kramarić surprisingly sat on the bench for the time being.
With energetic duels and tactical discipline, the Cologne team mostly kept their opponents away from their own goal. However, goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe (25th) had to save with his foot when a deflected shot from Wout Weghorst was taken. And just before the break, the Dutchman spooned the ball over the crossbar from the turn.
Otherwise, TSG’s game lacked speed and movement to put the relegation candidates in trouble more often. However, the Cologne team had even less to attack in the first half with striker Jan Thielmann in his 100th league game – but the 19-year-old Finkgräfe then fooled TSG keeper Oliver Baumann with a precise free kick into the right corner. However, Kramarić took the visitors out of all their dreams of victory in stoppage time.