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Cologne (dpa) - Cologne coach Markus Gisdol defended his player Dominick Drexler after denigrating his own fans, but did not rule out sanctions.
"We will certainly talk about it again next week," said the coach of 1. FC Cologne on Saturday after the 2-1 (1: 1) in the Rhenish derby at Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Drexler had belonged to the squad despite an incident on Friday evening on the trip to Mönchengladbach.
«He's a player who made a big mistake.
But the boy sincerely apologized.
That's why he was in the squad today.
Normally he would never say that, ”Gisdol continued.
"Everything else will be seen in the next few days."
Before the derby, a video appeared on the Internet in which Drexler, according to the "Bild" newspaper, had made derogatory comments about FC fans.
The picture was apparently taken while the Cologne player bus was driving to Mönchengladbach and shows the perspective from the bus.
On the street, Cologne supporters had prepared the FC team for the derby with pyrotechnics.
Drexler then apologized via the club's homepage before the game on Saturday.
He grew up with the club and is a fan himself, said the midfielder.
"I can therefore absolutely understand that my statements hurt a large number of our fans and that they found it insulting."
He wanted to "sincerely and heartily apologize" to the FC supporters.
The Cologne club idol Lukas Podolski had sharply criticized the incident.
“Unbelievable,” wrote the ex-FC striker on Twitter.
Anyone who insults their own fans "doesn't deserve this jersey," the tweet continued.
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The derby victory was particularly important because of this incident, said Gisdol: "We have had an intense day with the great happy ending of the derby victory, which means a lot to our fans."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210206-99-332198 / 2
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