Hard news for Viktoria Köln: A defender suffered a serious knee injury and will probably no longer be available to Viktoria this season.

As reported by “Kicker”, Florian Heister will miss FC Viktoria Köln for the next three months due to a serious knee injury he sustained in training. This means that Heister’s 2022/2023 season is likely to come to an early end.

The 25-year-old has made eleven appearances so far this season. The last time the winger played was last Saturday in the 1-1 draw in Wiesbaden.

Viktoria Köln will host Rot-Weiss Essen on Monday (13 February, 7 pm, RevierSport-Liveticker). In addition to Heister, the suspended Patrick Koronkiweicz and Lars Dietz will also be absent. In addition, David Philipp (calf injury, previously also a regular) and Federico Palacios (knee – out since October 2022) are also likely to be absent.

According to “Kicker”, there is also a big question mark over the use of Michael Schultz. The central defender will have to cut back on his training after suffering from a horse sore.

Against Rot-Weiss Essen: Statistics in favour of Viktoria Köln

For Viktoria, therefore, it is not a perfect starting position for the RWE duel, which has taken place 29 times so far. But at least the statistics are clearly in Cologne’s favour.

Cologne won 13 games, RWE won seven and the points were shared nine times. In Cologne, Essen won only two of the 14 games, a record that can be improved upon.

Even more striking: RWE have failed to win any of the last ten duels. The last win was a 2:1 home victory in September 2014. The last away win at Höhenberg dates back to October 2012. Mike Wunderlich also played for Viktoria in the 2:1 win, when he was shown a yellow card shortly before the end.