Even at the moment of success, after almost everything had worked out for 90 minutes for the Cologne team, this strange tendency to sloppiness emerged again, which was an integral part of this football season for FC.

Marius Wolf and Jannes Horn had prepared everything, and Friedhelm Funkel did not even make a serious attempt to escape.

Nevertheless, the Kölsch fell largely past the trainer on the floor, just grazed sparkles. This attempt at a beer shower was anything but suitable for the Bundesliga, but an all-round flawless end of the season would not have suited this football year for the Rhinelander. In the previous game, however, they had acted almost perfectly and won the relegation second leg 5-1 at Holstein Kiel.

Afterwards the professionals danced on the lawn, a few tears of emotion flowed, while 450 kilometers further south on the Rhine was sung on the streets.

"You really lose a lot," said goalkeeper Timo Horn.

Five goals and such a dominant performance had to surprise even the boldest optimists after the FC only managed one goal per game on average in the Bundesliga and there was far too little risk of scoring in the 0-1 in the first leg.

Cologne shows a lot of nerve strength

But these people from Cologne have retained this special ability that most teams lose in the course of long series of failures.

"The team showed a certain quality when we had our backs to the wall," explained Horn.

"We have repeatedly won victories that no one would have expected us to do in critical phases."

The mentally exhausted Kielers lacked the strength of nerves that Funkel had developed with great skill at FC. The 67-year-old retiree turned out to be the perfect coach for this season finale because he managed to spread calm and confidence in the midst of an extremely tense situation in which the medium-term future of this big club was also at stake.

In his almost 50 years in professional football, he had seen so much that he “couldn't feel any more pressure,” he said after the game.

This sovereignty helped the team a lot, in addition to Funkel's expertise.

In Kiel he played pragmatic football without many frills, with long balls across midfield.

Funkel has recognized that this team is often overwhelmed when they are supposed to build up the game in a structured way with flat passes through midfield.

As the favorite Bundesliga team, the Cologne team played underdog football of the finest quality in the first half.

And on that day, the injuries-prone striker Sebastian Andersson was again really strong, his header hits to 1: 2 (6th minute) and 1: 3 (13th), worked like knockout hits on Kiel.

The team had to “play all or nothing”, said Horn, “how the team brought it to the field makes me very, very proud.” Cologne's will to survive was simply greater than Holstein Kiel's urge to climb. The fact that the Cologne team managed so well to mobilize this force at the right moments is one of the main reasons that the club will play in the Bundesliga next year, while Kiel and Werder Bremen have to compete a class lower.

Most recently, Jonas Hector embodied this resilience more than any other Cologne resident, and pointed out a feat in Kiel that most traditional clubs fail in the relegation battle: Despite the failures, despite many critical voices, despite a change of coach, despite rumors of a possible replacement Sports director Horst Heldt always "stood together as a team", explained the captain. "The team was never to be beaten in any way, and you really have to give credit for that, that we pulled it off."

Funkel also cheered for the final conclusion of a great career "a great team" that gave him a lot of pleasure. In terms of football, this squad may have major weaknesses, but from a human point of view it was a good fit, and Markus Gisdol, who was dismissed in April, played his part in that. Teams with the ability to survive a year of relegation battle without serious internal rifts almost always stay in the league. The same thing happened now for Cologne.