After the cup knockout, 1. FC Köln is also affected in the Bundesliga. Four days after being eliminated on penalties against second division club Hamburger SV, coach Steffen Baumgart’s team lost a 2-1 lead at newly promoted VfL Bochum and had to settle for a 2-2 (2-1) lead. The Rhinelanders missed the third away win in a row.
Timo Hübers (36th) and Anthony Modeste (45th) turned a 0-1 deficit before the break. Gerrit Holtmann (25th) deservedly brought Bochum into the lead. Substitute Takuma Asano (70′) equalized for the Westphalians, who had made it into the quarter-finals of the cup 3-1 against Mainz 05 on Tuesday. VfL are five points behind FC in the fight for relegation with only one defeat in the last ten competitive games at home in the Ruhr Stadium.
While Bochum’s coach Thomas Reis had only changed his team in two positions compared to the cup evening, the FC starting XI was turned inside out. Baumgart almost completely rotated back to the 4-0 formation against Bayern Munich a week ago. The only exception: Louis Schaub played instead of Mark Uth. The two coaches, who taught football together in 2015, greeted each other with a long hug before kick-off.
As usual, Baumgart conducted his Cologne team with short sleeves and constantly moving on the edge of the field, a few meters further Reis followed the action rather stoically in a thick winter jacket, which his VfL dominated in the early stages with successful pressing. Suddenly Milos Pantovic, who scored twice in the cup, appeared free in the penalty area but needed too long to get the shot (6′).
Then Holtmann failed to FC keeper Marvin Schwäbe, the official number one since Friday (17th). The winger did better eight minutes later when he was cleverly released again by newcomer Jürgen Locadia and scored the 1-0 through Schwäbe’s legs.
Modeste with his 13th goal of the season
And Cologne? A rather random chance for Modeste after a slip by Bochum defender Maxim Leitsch (23rd) remained the only offensive action worth mentioning for a long time. Bochum was usually a step faster and more often in possession. With strong foot defense, Schwäbe prevented the 0:2 against Locadia (34th).
The equalizer was all the more surprising: After a corner from Florian Kainz and a header from Salih Öczan, Hübers threw the ball over the line from four meters. And after Pantovic lost the ball and a long pass from Kainz, Modeste turned the game upside down with his 13th goal of the season. Shortly after the change of sides, Eduard Löwen freely missed the chance to make it 2-2 (53rd). Substitute Sebastian Polter also missed the goal from close range (65′). Asano did better five minutes later after a long throw-in.