In the dressing room, the players of 1. FC Köln celebrated their liberation in the Bundesliga to the carnival hit “Kölsche Jung”. Outside, the FC fans who had traveled with them fervently sang the club anthem.
After six games in a row without a win, the Rhinelanders won 3-1 (2-1) against FC Augsburg, who were still unbeaten at home this year, and sent a clear signal in the fight to stay up in the league. “These are very important points in the table. There was pure will behind it,” said Cologne midfielder Florian Kainz.
Ellyes Skhiri (7th), Eric Martel (16th) and Linton Maina (59th) scored the redeeming goals for Cologne in front of 30,660 spectators on Saturday. Ruben Vargas (29th) scored for the home side. With the victory, the FC initially stopped its fall towards the relegation zone and got a comfortable cushion on the relegation place. As in previous years, the Augsburgers are looking at a tricky final sprint of the season. “We’re not in the middle of the relegation battle yet, but it’s still a tough road,” said Augsburg captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw.
Cologne is happy about the good use of chances
Against the table neighbors from Augsburg, the Cologne team showed an effectiveness that they haven’t had in a long time. The guests didn’t have many chances, but the few used them ice cold. “We were awake and wanted to score these goals,” said Kainz about the good conversion of chances. Cologne can now follow the direct duels between the relegation candidates Bochum and Stuttgart as well as Hoffenheim and Schalke on Sunday in peace.
Driven by the “away win” chants from their fans who had traveled with them, Cologne tried to “step on the gas” for the 90 minutes, as Kainz said after the game. This worked particularly well in the early stages. Skhiri pushed a volley from the completely free Julian Chabots over the line with his sixth goal of the season, Martel tunneled Augsburg keeper Rafal Gikiewicz with his first Bundesliga goal. “It’s every boy’s dream. Then the emotions get the best of you,” Martel described his debut goal.
Augsburg only briefly on the equalizer
Augsburg got into the game better as a result, but could only rarely develop a goal threat without their injured national player Mergim Berisha. After Vargas’ goal, the Swabians were close to equalizing, but individual errors destroyed the race to catch up. “At the moment I have the feeling that every individual mistake will also be punished. That will be our topic for the next few weeks,” announced Maaßen and appealed to his team: “We have to get personnel continuity on the pitch.”
For Cologne, on the other hand, it’s about building on the performance from Augsburg. The salvation after sobering weeks should give self-confidence for the upcoming task against FSV Mainz 05. Coach Steffen Baumgart didn’t want to overestimate the victory: “We haven’t achieved much. We got three points, but nothing else. We still have to work a lot and for a long time”.
But first we had to celebrate. An hour after the final whistle, carnival songs were still echoing in the Cologne dressing room.
