No breather, no Hector, no Hennes – but plenty of defiance: The badly shaken 1. FC Köln earned a highly deserved point against their fearful opponents TSG Hoffenheim.

At the end of the 12th Bundesliga match day, there was a 1-1 (1-1), for the FC it was the second match within three days.

Florian Kainz (13th) gave Cologne the lead, Jacob Bruun Larsen (35th) equalised. Hoffenheim finished the game with ten players after a yellow card against Ozan Kabak (87th). In the end, after the last eight defeats against TSG, FC still managed a draw and both teams kept contact with the European Cup places. And that was not necessarily to be expected.

Less than 53 hours earlier, coach Steffen Baumgart’s team had won 1-0 at FC Slovacko in the Conference League, a match that had been postponed by one day due to fog. The trip to the Czech province had also claimed two more injuries in the already depleted squad – and they really hurt: captain Jonas Hector and six-man Ellyes Skhiri have been the ones holding the FC together despite the permanent rotation.

Five other starting eleven candidates were missing anyway, and in view of all these factors the tabloids were already writing of “Baumgart’s toughest FC game”. And then Hennes also pulled out. The billy goat, usually at every game in Müngersdorf, stayed in Cologne Zoo with a cold.

In front of 49,000 spectators, the duel nevertheless began evenly. Hoffenheim showed a strong game and combined again and again into the final third. Cologne, meanwhile, pressed more cautiously than usual – but countered to take the lead. Stanley Nsoki misjudged a long ball, Linton Maina was then unstoppable and served top scorer Kainz in the middle.

Hoffenheim, however, always looked capable of creating danger, and only minutes later Marvin Schwäbe had to defuse a Robert Skov cross. It was now back and forth. Maina (25th) and Kainz (33rd) both missed narrowly for Cologne, while Hoffenheim took advantage of a ball loss on the other side. Christoph Baumgartner prepared the ball very well, Bruun Larsen was in the right position.

It remained a completely open game after the break, in which Cologne quickly had the next big chance through Kainz (52.). TSG coach Andre Breitenreiter changed his three-man backline, Nsoki and Kevin Vogt came off for Kevin Akpoguma and Eduardo Quaresma. Hoffenheim’s defence was now more stable, but both teams continued to play forward.