1. FC Cologne tested against Alemannia Aachen ahead of their top match against Hannover 96. After a long injury, Luca Kilian was back in the starting lineup, and Marvin Obuz also got some playing time.

Behind closed doors on Tuesday (November 26), 1. FC Köln tested against third-division side Alemannia Aachen. Back in action was center back Luca Kilian, who suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in March and has been out of action for a long time as a result.

FC coach Gerhard Struber was delighted with his protégé’s comeback: “Today’s game was good for him, his body showed no negative reaction after eight months out. He looks really stable, he now needs playing time to get back into the automatisms we currently have in our style of play.”

The 25-year-old started as a right-sided center back in a back three. Also in the starting line-up was Marvin Obuz, who caused a stir right from the start. Obuz, who scored 21 points for Rot-Weiss Essen in the 3rd division last season, took heart in the 26th minute and shot at the inside post. Only the aluminum saved Aachen from going into the break behind.

Obuz was also at the center of the action in the second half: the 22-year-old broke through on the baseline and set up Denis Huseinbasic, whose attempt was blocked just before the line. Luca Waldschmidt finally scored the deserved 1-0 for FC (76′). Eric Martel increased the lead to 2-0 shortly before the end (86′).

Aachen keeper Elias Bördner did not look good on either goal. Waldschmidt’s 1-0 slipped through his legs, and he lacked conviction and orientation when coming out for the 2-0, so he couldn’t get a hold of the ball – Martel only had to tap it in.

After their hard-fought victory against Münster, Cologne have now won three league games in a row 1-0 – and also kept a clean sheet in the friendly against Aachen. It was a successful dress rehearsal for the top match against Hannover 96. “Once again, we were very solid defensively in both halves. We kept the opposition well away from our goal,” said head coach Gerhard Struber, praising his team’s performance.

He also used the friendly to get an idea of players who otherwise get less playing time. “It was good to get an impression of many players who haven’t had much playing time recently,” he said after the game. Marvin Obuz definitely falls into this category: the 22-year-old from Cologne has only played 30 minutes in the second division – clearly too little for a player of his age.

According to Kicker, Struber used the test to give playing time to players who are really close to playing time in real competition—Steffen Tigges, Sargis Adamyan, and Florian Dietz are obviously further away than Obuz: Of this attacking trio, only Tigges got a few minutes after the break before being substituted again.