Thanks to a deflected goal from Linton Maina in the 29th minute, 1. FC Köln celebrated a very important 1-0 (0-0) win for their points account and their own spirit. Both are extremely weak at VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
“The relief is great. We have to blame ourselves for not scoring a second goal, in the end we have to thank our goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe”said sports director Thomas Kessler on “Sky”, pointing out two great chances for Wolfsburg to equalize in the last minutes of the game. “This is an important win for us, which ensures that we now have a more relaxed weekend. With 23 points we are doing well.”
“The last few weeks haven’t been easy, the fact that we were able to reward ourselves with three points is very good for us in the situation”said Schwäbe. And winning goalscorer Maina (three points in the last four games) said: “In the phase we’re in, the three points are very important. I’m in a flow right now, so a lot of things work out. I’m trying to do that now, hold on for as long as possible, I want to keep moving up with the boys.”
Oh, oh Mainz double pack without target water
Crisis against crisis – that was the motto of the game. Cologne had previously only won one of ten league games and Wolfsburg had only gotten four points from the last five games, with 19 points after 19 match days making the weakest start to the Bundesliga in the club’s history in the upper house. But one team didn’t notice their misery.
For long stretches of the first half, Cologne played better than they had in a long time – but didn’t reward themselves enough for it. Ragnar Ache missed two top chances in the 14th and 18th minutes, first the striker hit a hole six meters in front of the goal after the header, then Kamil Grabara saved his header from close range. The double goalscorer in the 2-1 win against Mainz 05 two weeks earlier should have had at least one of these two opportunities.
Maina does what Ache couldn’t
But Cologne found someone who took over the job for Ache – and who had the luck that the 27-year-old didn’t have before. Maina dribbled into the middle from the right side, tried from 18 meters and received decisive support from Moritz Jenz, who deflected the shot, which was not particularly dangerous, intolerable (29th). Meanwhile, very little came from Wolfsburg, Patrick Wimmer missed the only promising opportunity when he missed the goal from a sharp wave (37th).
Cologne’s lead was deserved, but it could have been a little higher. After a duel in which Yannick Gerhardt touched Tom Krauss’ foot, the hosts called for a penalty (43′). However, neither referee Martin Petersen nor his assistants in the video basement shared this assessment, so the result remained close after a very one-sided first 45 minutes.
Cologne is becoming more passive, but Pejcinovic doesn’t punish that
The one-sidedness was no longer there after the break, Wolfsburg came out of the locker room better – but not really more dangerous. The game was evenly balanced; there were initially no highlights on either side. It was obvious that Cologne, with the lead and the certainty that the guests had to do more, chose a more defensive approach and relied on the counterattack.
This passivity was almost justified when Dzenan Pejcinovic missed the great opportunity to equalize; the Wolfsburg striker missed the Cologne goal (59th). Although the referee team decided it was offside, the VAR probably should have made a correction and the goal would probably have counted.
Schwäbe saves the FC victory in the last minutes
It was a warning to coach Lukas Kwasniok’s team that they had to take action themselves again. Maina did this when he ran 70 meters across the field and finished, but missed the goal (68th). But things became even more dangerous at the other end when Adam Daghim had the equalizer on his feet and Eric Martel slid in his shot (73′).
Kwasniok then brought on Said El Mala, who was supposed to provide more offensive moments and thus relieve Wolfsburg’s pressure. And the left winger did that too, in the 80th minute he showed his dribbling qualities, but he also missed the goal with his shot and the game was still open. But Wolfsburg didn’t reward themselves for their improvement in performance, there was another setback for coach Daniel Bauer’s team – also because Marvin Schwäbe became a hero in stoppage time against Kento Shiogai (90th + 2) and Daghim (90th + 5).
Wolfsburg is still twelfth in the Bundesliga, but the team is still in danger of falling to 15th place during the course of the match day. With a win against Borussia Dortmund, the “Wolves” can stop their decline next week on Saturday (3:30 p.m.), while Cologne (almost made it 2-0 in the 96th minute through El Mala) can follow up with their third home win in a row a day later against RB Leipzig (3:30 p.m.). Then the crisis of the past few weeks would be finally forgotten.
