With fighting spirit and passion, 1. FC Kaiserslautern caused another depressing defeat for 1. FC Köln in typical Betzenberg style.
The sixth-placed team in the second division won the atmospheric traditional duel with the Bundesliga penultimate-placed team in the DFB Cup 3:2 (1:0) and thus significantly exacerbated the FC crisis once again. FCK reached the round of 16 for the first time in four years.
Richmond Tachie (19th), Kenny Prince Redondo (47th) and Marlon Ritter (65th) scored for the Palatinate side, who secured the bonus of 862,400 euros for progressing. By contrast, Cologne’s misery continues, having only won one game in the league and suffering a 6-0 thrashing at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
The late goals from Florian Kainz (71′) and Mark Uth (81′) did nothing to change that, especially as Cologne finished the game with ten players: captain Kainz was shown a straight red card in the 84th minute for rough play. Five minutes earlier, Eric Martel, who had already been substituted, had received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It was a very hot evening. It was unnecessarily tight at the end. We’re happy to have progressed,” said FCK managing director Thomas Hengen on the birthday of club legend Fritz Walter, who would have turned 103 on Tuesday.
In front of 49,327 spectators at the sold-out Betzenberg, Lauter defender Boris Tomiak fired the first “warning shot” towards Cologne’s goal in the 4th minute. Timo Hübers created even more danger at the other end with a header following a corner (5th minute).
After that, as expected, it was all about the fight. There was no discernible difference in class and the hosts even had more of the play. The lead for the Red Devils through Tachie, whose shot was deflected unstoppably by Hübers for FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe, was not undeserved.
Cologne were only briefly shocked and forced Lauter into a defensive stance midway through the first half. However, FC were unable to create any real goalscoring opportunities. The visitors were too static and their insecurity was palpable.
Redondo shocked Cologne right at the start of the second half. As with the first goal, the outstanding Ritter did the groundwork. Shortly afterwards, the Rhinelanders were unlucky when Linton Maina hit the crossbar (50). Baumgart made a personnel change in the 57th minute, bringing on Uth for the weak Ljubicic.
Four minutes later, Luca Waldschmidt missed a great opportunity to equalize. After that, Lauter shook. An FC goal was in the air, but instead Ritter crowned his performance with a free-kick goal. Kainz brought tension back into the game. Waldschmidt had the next goal for the visitors on his feet (75′), which Uth then scored with his head to set up a tense final few minutes.