The start of the season back in the Bundesliga is a bitter one for FC Schalke 04 – 1. FC Köln mercilessly exploit the mistakes made by the Royal Blues.
A Bundesliga return to forget for FC Schalke 04. The Royal Blues lost 3-1 (0-0) at 1. FC Köln at the start of the season and had to take several hits in the process. Luca Kilian (49th), Florian Kainz (62nd) and Alexander Schwolow (80th) scored the goals for the hosts, Marius Bülter (76th) was only able to score the short-term goal.
From the 35th minute, Schalke had to play outnumbered after Dominick Drexler had to leave the field with a red card. Goalkeeper Schwolow also made a mistake before the 0:2.
The dismissal changed the balance of power
The Royal Blues started furiously and were already able to celebrate the supposed opening goal in the tenth minute. But when Rodrigo Zalazar finished, Maya Yoshida was offside and blocked Cologne goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe from view – after studying the video images, referee Robert Schröder canceled the goal.
The scene was like a wake-up call for Cologne, who then created a number of decent chances and took control. Hardly anything came from Schalke during this phase. When Drexler had to leave the field, the balance of power finally shifted in favor of FC.
Cologne looked for gaps and tried to overwhelm the Schalke defense. The attackers Jan Thielmann and Florian Dietz were the focus of attention. Collectively, FC trainer Steffen Baumgart wanted to replace Modeste, who is so important for the Cologne game and who will probably complete his medical check at BVB on Monday.