When Ralf Fährmann made his way to the Cologne penalty area in stoppage time, sheer fear broke out among the few people who were sitting in the stands.

The goalkeeper of FC Schalke 04 had apparently made the decision to end this season of his club, which could not be saved for many weeks, with a goalkeeper goal, which would have dragged 1. FC Köln down into the second division.

Substitute players climbed the balustrade and yelled at the goalkeeper of FC Schalke 04, he should let this nonsense be.

For the bottom of the table it was finally about nothing, while Cologne were in an emotional state of emergency at the end of a dramatic football Saturday.

Outside the stadium there were several hundred agitated people who had sung a lot and set off fireworks, and there had also been clashes with the police.

Werder Bremen was the loser in the parallel game, a win would enable Cologne to participate in the relegation, that much was clear.

And the game had been unbearable.

Only five minutes before the end of regular time had Sebastiaan Bornauw beheaded the 1-0, Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn was later to speak of a "roller coaster ride of emotions".

And now this ferryman, whose tenacious resistance threatened the Cologne residents for a long time, wanted to destroy this hard-won success in the role of the attacker.

Andersson's goal doesn't count

In fact, he hit the corner with his head, but missed the Cologne goal, so that the FC won 1-0.

“You have to go to war, that's what we did,” said Bornauw afterwards;

that sounded martial, but somehow it fit in with this soccer day in Müngersdorf, which had started with a pyrotechnic orgy when the team bus arrived and now ended with battle scenes on the lawn.

In the final minutes, the members of the Effzeh cheered every tackle like a goal. It was pouring rain, the almost empty stadium was in a state during the second half that Horn later described as "pure emotion". The Cologne had several chances and scored a goal that the video referees canceled. Because Salih Özcan, who was not directly involved in the action, was passively offside in a free kick that Sebastian Andersson maneuvered over the line, but became active because he had blocked Schalke's Salif Sané far away from the ball on the way to his defense work ( 73.).

The decision corresponded to the rules, but was only understandable even for experts after intensive study of the situation.

"I cannot accept the reason for the blocking," said Cologne trainer Friedhelm Funkel when it was all over and admitted: "That was really nerve-wracking."

In the end, the people of Cologne sank completely exhausted on the lawn, some cheered, with Jonas Hector reporting diffuse feelings.

"I'm not exactly sure how to deal with the emotional state," he said.

Because the direct class retention that the Cologne had hoped for did not succeed.

On Wednesday and next Saturday they have to play in the relegation against Bochum, Kiel or Fürth.

But they prevented the direct relegation, which had threatened more and more specifically, which is why sports director Horst Heldt said he was "relieved".

Obviously, he brought Funkel to the billy goat home as a savior just in time.

In the six games with the great old master among the football teachers, the team scored ten points and after six weeks on the relegation zone 17 made the jump to the relegation zone five minutes before the end of the season.

With the help of a classic coaching move.

Funkel had sent the central defender Bornauw to the top of the attack because the attackers Andersson, Duda, Wolf and Hector had previously missed a long series of best chances.

The Belgian attacked in youth and scored six goals for Cologne in the 2019/2020 season - a top figure for a defender.

In the current year, however, he had not yet scored a goal, partly because a benign tumor in his back caused him great pain for a long time.

Bornauw was operated on in winter, had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia, had to be put into an artificial coma and then said: "20 years ago I would have died 90 percent." Given to the past.

"Today's game should give us confidence," said Heldt, and they have also received a powerful emotional boost.

The question posed about the future of Heldt, who should possibly be dismissed in the event of relegation, initially became a minor matter. The managing director is accused of holding onto coach Markus Gisdol for too long and of having invested the scarce money in planning the season in players (Andersson, Limnios, Arokodare, Meyer, Dennis) who did little to help. But the debates on this topic stand still, the whole focus should be on the relegation showdown.