Arminia Bielefeld continues to stagger towards the relegation places in the 3rd league. In the NRW duel with Viktoria Köln, the East Westphalians suffered their fifth defeat in a row.
The guests from the cathedral city prevailed on Saturday afternoon with goals from Michael Schultz (45th) and David Philipp (79th) 2-0 (1-0), although Arminia dominated the game for long stretches, but the numerous chances didn’t use.
Arminia started with a change compared to the 0-2 loss against Regensburg: Kaito Mizuta replaced Marius Wörl. For Viktoria it was the first game without Donny Bogicevic, who tore his syndesmotic ligament last weekend and will be out for the rest of the season. Suheyel Najar began for him. Luca Marseiler was also in the starting line-up after his failed move to the 2nd Bundesliga.
Bielefeld starts strong, Viktoria finishes stronger
The opening phase clearly belonged to the hosts, who attacked early and restricted Viktoria in their own half, but without becoming really dangerous in front of the goal. It wasn’t until the 12th minute that Mizuta finished in a good position, but missed carelessly. Shortly afterwards, Nassim Boujellab also scored the next goal, but it didn’t pose any problems for Ben Voll in the Cologne goal (14th). In the 18th minute, André Becker had Cologne’s first opportunity with a header, which Jonas Kersken just steered over the crossbar.
After that, Viktoria was better in the game, which meant that the action increasingly took place in the midfield and less often in front of the goals. Bielefeld’s best chance in this phase was Lucas Dietz, a Cologne player who almost headed his head into his own goal after a corner (32′). At the next corner, Monju Momuluh missed a good opportunity to take the lead (32′). It was only in the final phase of the first half that the guests really became dangerous. First Philipp was denied by Kersken from a tight angle (44′). At the following corner, Schultz was there with a header and put Viktoria in the lead (45th).
Arminia misses opportunities, Philipp with the decision
After the break, it was Bielefeld again who dominated the initial phase. Mizuta with his head (51′) as well as Boujellab (54′) and Merveille Biankadi with his foot (56′) had good to top-class opportunities, but did not put the ball in the goal. The East Westphalians pushed for the equalizer, with the support of their loud fans who didn’t give up on their team. Viktoria, on the other hand, was only concerned with defending.
It took until the 72nd minute for Arminia to score their next good chance. Christopher Lannert tested Voll with a powerful shot from distance. Shortly afterwards, Fabian Klos also failed due to Voll (73′). Arminia would have deserved the equalizer long ago, but were then punished in the 79th minute for the many missed opportunities. Philipp scored after a strong solo to make it 2-0 for the guests. Arminia didn’t give up, but simply didn’t hit the goal. Leandro Putaro put a direct free kick from 25 meters just over the crossbar (84th). Viktoria didn’t allow any further opportunities.
