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Cologne (dpa) - After the bankruptcy in the relegation duel with FSV Mainz 05, Markus Gisdol is facing the end of 1. FC Cologne.

With the eighth winless Bundesliga game in a row and the crash to the direct relegation places, the FC head coach after the 2: 3 (1: 1) against the immediate competitor on Sunday evening probably no longer has a chance of continued employment at the Rhenish club.

According to previous media reports, veteran Friedhelm Funkel could take on the task of keeping Cologne from going into the second division in the remaining six games of the season.

With 23 points, the Cologne team dropped to 17th place behind Arminia Bielefeld and Hertha BSC (both 26th).

For Mainz, who climbed to 14th place with 28 points, Jean-Paul Boetius (11th), Karim Onisiwo (65th) and Leandro Barreiro (90th + 2) scored their first victory in the RheinEnergieStadion.

Ondrej Duda (43./ penalty) and Ellyes Skhiri (61.) scored the goals for Cologne.

The Cologne team tried from the start to take control and to pull apart the compact Mainz defensive line when the ball was in possession with high-profile full-backs.

Gisdol was able to fall back on two top performers after long injury breaks.

Florian Kainz was in the starting line-up for the first time this season after a knee operation, and center forward Sebastian Andersson, who had to take a break due to knee problems, returned to the starting line-up after four months.

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But the guests, who experience an upswing with their coach Bo Svensson, showed the more mature playing system, attacked early and changed the defensive five-man chain to a three-man chain when the ball was in possession.

The Mainz team, who had recently been undefeated four times in a row, and where Onisiwo was preferred to Robert Glatzel in attack, then took a 1-0 lead early on thanks to a surprising and well-placed right-footed shot by Boetius.

It was the first goal of the season for the Dutchman.

The Cologne team coped well with the deficit, had two good chances to score through Andersson (19/20) and put the Rheinhessen under greater pressure with great effort, but without then creating great chances.

Only a hand penalty given after video evidence, which Duda was able to convert, led to an equalization.

FC goalkeeper Timo Horn had previously prevented the Mainz team from 2-0 after a shot by Moussa Niakhaté.

In the game, which was generally quite even and was interrupted by many injury breaks, Marius Wolf had the great opportunity to score the opening goal for FC, who was better in the second half of the game, but his header only landed on the aluminum frame via goalkeeper Robin Zentner (58th).

Three minutes later, Skhiri did better.

His header hit after preliminary work by Jonas Hector made it 2-1 for the hosts, but Onisiwo equalized immediately.

Barreiro even let the Mainz team cheer for the eminently important victory in stoppage time.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210411-99-164847 / 2

Squad 1. FC Cologne

Squad FSV Mainz 05