Darmstadt and Cologne played out a hard-fought game in the relegation battle, which the guests deserved to win.
Davie Selke has scored 1. FC Cologne’s second victory of the Bundesliga season and thus, at least overnight, shot them up into a non-relegation spot. The striker scored in the 60th minute on Friday evening to make the score 1:0 (0:0) in the cellar duel at newly promoted SV Darmstadt 98, for whom it was already their fourth home defeat.
Thanks to the better goal difference, Cologne moved past their rival, who had the same number of points, to 15th place for the time being with nine points. The new bottom-placed team is Champions League participant 1. FC Union Berlin (7), who have to play against FC Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Right from the kick-off, a competitive game developed in front of 17,810 spectators, in which both teams revealed deficits in their play. Long and high was mostly the motto, which proved to be of little use. Chances were in short supply on both sides.
Darmstadt then lost Marvin Mehlem to an ankle injury after a good 20 minutes of play. The previously lively forward had been fouled by Florian Kainz shortly before. Tobias Kempe came on for Mehlem.
The Hessians were now unable to mount any further attacks. But even the FC, which had significantly more possession of the ball, found it difficult and remained harmless in attack. The result: in the first half, neither goalkeeper had to make a single save, as neither team managed to get a shot on target.
There was a brief flurry of excitement when Cologne’s Luca Kilian went down in the Darmstadt penalty area and the visitors demanded a penalty. However, referee Patrick Ittrich rightly allowed play to continue.
The second half also saw a tough battle, in which the home side now acted with more purpose and had their first opportunity. Tim Skarke only just missed the FC goal with a shot.
At the other end, Dejan Ljubicic went close to giving the visitors the lead, but his shot from a tight angle was saved by Lilien goalkeeper Marcel Schuhen. Shortly afterwards, Cologne were celebrating: Luca Waldschmidt’s corner was headed into the path of Selke by Mathias Honsak, who made no mistake from five meters out.
Just six minutes later, Waldschmidt scored what looked like the 2-0 lead for Cologne. But the goal was disallowed after a review of the video footage, as the player had been in an offside position beforehand. Shortly afterwards, the video assistant was called upon again after Ittrich had awarded a penalty kick for the home side. After viewing the TV images, the referee revised his decision.
In the closing stages, Lilien coach Torsten Lieberknecht brought on fresh forces again, but the better chances continued to fall to the guests. Waldschmidt and substitute Max Finkgräfe both went close to scoring just before the end, with Schuhen making the saves.
The line-ups:
Darmstadt 98: Schuhen – Klarer, Ja. Müller (83. Karic), Maglica – Skarke, Gjasula, Holland, Nürnberger (82. Stojilkovic) – Marvin Mehlem (23. Kempe), Honsak (65. Vilhelmsson) – Seydel (65. Luca Pfeiffer)
1. FC Köln: Schwäbe – Kilian (46. Finkgräfe), Hübers, Chabot, Heintz – Ljubicic (90.+3 Uth), Martel – Thielmann, Kainz (46. L. Waldschmidt), Maina (85. Olesen) – Selke (73. Tigges)
Referee: Patrick Ittrich (Hamburg) – spectators: 17810 (sold out)
goals: 0:1 Selke (60.)
yellow cards: Seydel / Kainz, Hübers, Selke