1. FC Köln played well for a long time, but in the end Bayern won the cup match convincingly. This was also thanks to the strong former Cologne player Urbig in the Bayern goal – and the unstoppable Kane.
Fourteenth competitive game, fourteenth victory: FC Bayern Munich’s impressive dominance continues in the DFB Cup. After trailing 0-1 against Bundesliga newcomers 1. FC Köln, who played brilliantly for a long time, Bayern ultimately advanced to the round of 16 with a confident 4-1 (2-1) victory. In addition to double goalscorer Harry Kane (38th and 64th minutes), former Cologne keeper Jonas Urbig, standing in for the suspended Manuel Neuer, was the match winner for coach Vincent Kompany’s team.
Luiz Diaz (36th minute) had previously equalized Cologne’s lead from Ragnar Ache (31st minute) from an unpunished offside position. Michael Olise (72nd minute) finished off a counterattack to score Bayern’s fourth goal.
The spirited Cologne team only had a taste of a sensation for 30 minutes. Repeatedly spurred on by motivator Lukas Kwasniok, who was cheering them on from the sidelines in a T-shirt in around 13 degrees Celsius and in the rain, FC Cologne played courageously up front and created several good chances. However, the strong Isak Johannesson (11th minute) and Jakub Kaminski (25th minute) were denied by the best man on the pitch up to that point: goalkeeper Urbig.
The 22-year-old was back at his home club for the first time since moving to Munich. Clearly highly motivated at his old stomping ground, Urbig initially saved the record champions from falling behind. It was only after a Johannesson corner that the young goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Ache from heading in after a mistake by Dayot Upamecano, turning the Cologne stadium into a madhouse just two weeks before the official start of Carnival.
Cologne keeper Zieler slips up
Shortly afterwards, within just two minutes, the hangover had already set in. Particularly bitter: Diaz, who scored the equalizer, had been clearly offside. Former national team goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, who is preferred to regular goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe in the DFB Cup, had deflected a shot from Josip Stanisic straight to the feet of Diaz. Because there is no video referee in the second round of the cup, the mistake by the refereeing team led by Tobias Welz was not corrected.
A little later, it was not luck but the world-class talent of goal-scorer Kane that gave Bayern the lead. The captain of the English national team made excellent use of a pass from Olise, curling the ball past Zieler into the far corner.
Cologne responded courageously again after the break. However, Bayern had opportunities to counterattack early in the second half. In the 52nd minute, Diaz had a huge chance to seal the game early on when he found himself one-on-one with Zieler, but he fired the ball over the Rhinelanders’ goal. In the end, it was still a clear victory.
Goal machine Kane
Kane headed in the decisive goal from a corner because Cologne keeper Zieler was far too indecisive. It was the English goal machine’s 22nd goal of the season in his 14th competitive game. Shortly afterwards, the evening was also over for Cologne’s great hope for the future, Said El Mala. The 19-year-old, who apart from a few skilful moves in the first half was unable to make a decisive impact this time, was substituted after just over an hour.
This meant that the hoped-for duel between talents with Bayern’s Lennart Karl did not take place. The 17-year-old was only brought on a quarter of an hour before the end of the game. By that point, the game had long been decided after Olise’s counterattack goal.