The Cologne police have drawn a positive balance for the football derby between FC and Borussia Mönchengladbach (4:1) on Saturday in front of 50,000 spectators at the RheinEnergie Stadium.

“From my point of view, the police operation went well, so that we only had to intervene in a few cases,” summed up head of operations Michael Tiemann.

It was possible to “separate the rival groups of troublemakers at an early stage and prevent possible clashes”. More than 1000 officers were deployed.

Before the start of the match, arriving supporters had damaged the Deutsche Bahn relief train and a Cologne public transport tram. According to the police, the situation briefly worsened in the second half of the match “when troublemakers set off firecrackers in the visitors’ area. Four Borussia Mönchengladbach stewards suffered minor injuries as a result”. According to the emergency services, investigations were immediately initiated and corresponding criminal charges were filed.