The winning streak broke, the extra early dress rehearsal botched: Bayer Leverkusen conceded their first defeat in a competitive game since mid-February in a 1-2 (1-2) win against Rhenish rivals 1. FC Köln and before the Europa League semi-finals in the AS Roma have to accept a damper.
Davie Selke (14th, 36th) scored for FC, who are almost certain of staying up after their third away win in a row. Leverkusen, on the other hand, lost for the first time in 14 competitive games despite Amine Adli (28th) equalizing in the meantime and revealed some unusual weaknesses before the cracker in the European Cup at the top Italian club on Thursday (9 p.m. / RTL).
“Our series is broken, but we have to look ahead. Rome wasn’t in our heads yet, we haven’t thought about Rome yet,” Adli said on Sky. Match winner Selke was relieved: “I’m glad things went in today. It was a difficult task that we solved very well.”
In the run-up to the duel, there had been heated discussions because the German Football League (DFL) had approved a request from Leverkusen to move the game forward from Sunday to Friday. FC felt ignored, but Leverkusen hoped that this step would give them more regeneration time between the Bundesliga and Europa League.
In what was a heated and intense duel from the outset, FC vehemently fought against Leverkusen, who had the better game and technical skills, with world champion Exequiel Palacios, who had recovered from thigh problems, initially on the bench. And that left an impression: Selke initially held his own in a duel in the Leverkusen penalty area and finally converted Florian Kainz’s cross with a strong header.
Leverkusen too harmless against strong Cologne
Bayer wasn’t shocked, however, and pushed for the equaliser, which Adli scored after a quick counterattack. Coach Xabi Alonso’s team took control of the game and increased the pressure, but the shots were harmless. FC showed how it’s done: Selke converted a cross from Jan Thielmann directly.
Adli (45 + 1) and the former Cologne player Florian Wirtz (45 + 2) each failed because of the strong FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe.
Alonso initially refrained from making changes at the beginning of the second half and continued to rely on his attacking trio of Adli, Wirtz and Moussa Diaby. However, the three were rarely able to use their immense speed because Cologne continued to bite in the duels and looked for their chances up front. Jonas Hector (52nd) forced Lukas Hradecky to make a save.
Palacios made his comeback a little later. And the Argentinian immediately tried to create more structure in the sometimes confused Leverkusen game.
However, there was still often a lack of speed and accuracy to pose major problems for the Cologne defense. The numerous standards also remained mostly harmless. The fact that there was hardly any flow of play due to numerous fouls and injury interruptions played into FC’s hands. Schindler missed the great opportunity to make it 3-1 in the 90th minute.
Bayer Leverkusen – 1. FC Cologne: The votes for the game
Xabi Alonso (Bayer Leverkusen manager): “Today wasn’t our best game, we didn’t have that much control. They weren’t any better than us but we didn’t defend well against the goals we conceded. We had chances but it wasn’t enough. Losing it hurts.”
Steffen Baumgart (Coach 1. FC Cologne): “It was a very good game for my lads. We didn’t deserve a win against a good team from Leverkusen. We’re happy that Davie was in the right place at the right moment. That’s why we got him.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs. 1. FC Köln: The details of the game
