With fighting spirit and passion, 1. FC Kaiserslautern have ensured the next depressing defeat for 1. FC Cologne.
The team, currently in sixth place in the second division, won the traditional duel in the DFB Cup 3-2 (1-0), thereby significantly exacerbating the FC crisis once again.
Richmond Tachie (19′), Kenny Prince Redondo (47′) and Marlon Ritter (65′) scored for the Rhinelanders. Cologne, on the other hand, remain in the doldrums, having only won one game in the league so far and having suffered a thrashing at RB Leipzig (0-6) on Saturday.
Even the late goals from Florian Kainz (71′) and Mark Uth (81′) were unable to change that, especially since Cologne ended the game with ten men: captain Kainz was sent off for a serious foul in the 84th minute. Five minutes earlier, Eric Martel, who had already been substituted, had received a second yellow card for unsporting behavior.
“It was a very hot evening. In the end, it was unnecessarily tight. We are happy to be through,” 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, Kaiserslautern defensive player Boris Tomiak fired the first warning shot in the direction of the Cologne goal in the 4th minute. Timo Hübers caused even more danger on the opposite side with a header after a corner (5th minute).
As expected, the game was a tough one. There was no obvious difference in class, and the home side even had more of the ball. The Red Devils took a deserved lead through Tachie, whose shot was deflected past FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe by Hübers.
Cologne were only briefly shocked and pushed the Lauterer into the defensive in the middle of the first half. However, the FC were unable to create any real scoring chances. The guests were too static, and the uncertainty was palpable.
Right at the start of the second half, Redondo shocked Cologne. As with the first goal, the outstanding Ritter did the preparatory work. Shortly afterwards, the Rhinelanders had bad luck when Linton Maina only hit the bar (50). In the 57th minute, Baumgart made a personnel change, bringing on the offensive Uth for the weak Ljubicic.
Four minutes later, Luca Waldschmidt missed a great opportunity to get his side back into the game. After that, Kaiserslautern started to falter. An FC goal was in the air, but instead Ritter crowned his performance with a free-kick goal. Kainz brought the game back into contention. Waldschmidt had the next goal for the guests at his feet (75th minute), but Uth headed the ball home to set up a thrilling final few minutes.