Kainz is threatened with the bench in the derby against Leverkusen

1. FC Köln can hope for Davie Selke again in the derby against Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile, Florian Kainz is under pressure. The captain is threatened with the bank.

The signs were already better for a home win for 1. FC Köln against Bayer Leverkusen. The arch-rivals from Bayer-Kreuz have not yet lost a competitive game this season. FC, on the other hand, has only managed three Bundesliga wins this season. There have never been as many points between the Billy Goats and the Werkself as there are now.

Nevertheless, the people of Cologne want to believe in the sensation. It’s a good thing that Davie Selke, the player who scored two goals in Leverkusen last season to ensure FC’s away win at the Bay Arena in the Bay Arena and who also did so this season – a low-scoring one for FC – should be returning to the squad is once again the most dangerous attacker with five goals.

And that despite the fact that he was out for almost two months with a broken foot. But now Selke is back, at least on the best way. “Davie is very important for the group. He brings a different atmosphere and other playful skills to the pitch,” said FC coach Timo Schultz, happy about the 29-year-old’s return. Is he already a candidate for the starting eleven? “No!” Schultz made it clear.

The reason: Despite all his joy about his return, Selke was not able to complete a full training session by Friday and still had to catch up on his fitness deficit. “It would be irresponsible,” said Schultz, to throw Selke back in right away from the start. “The sooner he gets back into the game, the better” – but for Leverkusen it will initially only be enough as a joker.

Selke, however, is more important to the team than almost any other player. “Davie is an important player for us – on the pitch, but also as a guy,” said Thomas Kessler on Friday. The head of the licensed player department knows: “He embodies an incredible amount of what we need in our situation. That’s why we’re very happy that he’s back.”

Actually, this also applies to the captain of the team. But Florian Kainz has been chasing his form for weeks. The Austrian was recently unable to make an impact offensively or do the intensive running work defensively in a way that helped his teammates. Now he is threatened with the bench against Leverkusen of all places. Also because the captain is no longer the fastest and the Bayer team has to be disrupted early and quickly in their build-up game.

Of course, Schultz didn’t want to let anything affect his captain on Friday. At least publicly he jumped to his side. “I’m very happy that we have Florian Kainz here, who leads the way both in training and in the game,” emphasized Schultz. But the 46-year-old also made it clear: “His qualities would come into play even more if we had more possession of the ball and were more in the final third.”

And it is precisely this type of possession football that FC will hardly be able to play against the sovereign league leaders on Sunday. “Basically,” Schultz is “always happy when Kainzi is on the pitch.” “But that doesn’t rule out the possibility that he will sit on the bench at some point.” The captain is therefore “required to put his foot down in every training session”.

Against Leverkusen, however, that might not be enough, because with Faride Alidou, a fast attacker is pushing back into the starting line-up, and Linton Maina would be available as another sprinter to attack Bayer with speed, but also – together with Alidou and Jan Thielmann – to counterattack to become dangerous. A tactic that will probably be of crucial importance for the FC game on Sunday and that is tailored to many players, but not to Florian Kainz.