The 1. FC Köln celebrated the first victory in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League. In contrast to the previous week, things remained quiet off the pitch.
Many goals, a noisy stadium – but no violence: A week after the riots in Nice, 1. FC Köln got its hoped-for “peaceful football festival” on the European stage. Steffen Baumgart’s team won a wild match against 1. FC Slovacko from the Czech Republic on the second matchday of the Conference League with 4:2 (2:0).
Against an initially clearly inferior opponent, Sargis Adamyan (10th) and Florian Dietz (42nd) put FC in the lead. Jan Kalabiska (49th) and Milan Petrzela (52nd) equalised in no time, Dejan Ljubicic (65th, penalty/73rd) scored twice to win the match.
Baumgart spared his key players
The match, which was actually not particularly explosive, had been upgraded to a risk match by UEFA under the impressions of Cologne’s duel with OGC Nice (1:1) – which ultimately had the effect of symbolic politics. The small visiting club only brought around 200 fans with them late on Thursday evening and, as expected, everything remained quiet in the home stands in front of 47,700 spectators.
Baumgart’s line-up, however, was a gamble. In captain Jonas Hector, Timo Hübers, Ellyes Skhiri and Florian Kainz, four key players initially took their places on the bench – for FC it was the eleventh game in just under seven weeks.
Cold shower after the break
The first few minutes proved Baumgart right. FC started pressing and after a corner Adamyan finished for the early lead. Shortly before the break, Dietz was also successful after a corner kick, but in between Cologne kept their opponents in the game with simple ball losses. Marvin Schwäbe had to save twice (34./43.) – but was powerless twice in the double strike after the break.
Against the Czechs around former Leverkusen player Michal Kadlec, Baumgart brought on Skhiri and Hector. The order did not really return, but Cologne became more determined. Ljubicic took the decisive penalty himself – and scored again a little later.