1. FC Köln did not manage to win their first away win in this Bundesliga season in their seventh attempt.
On Saturday, the Cologne team even gambled away their lead in 1: 1 (0: 1) against Arminia Bielefeld.
The early lead by Salih Özcan (17th minute) made up for Bryan Lasme (59th) a few moments after being substituted on.
While Cologne is still without a win away from home, Bielefeld are still waiting for their first home win after the eighth home game.
As expected, the Cologne team had to do without their captain Jonas Hector (thigh problems), Kingsley Schindler moved into the starting line-up for the left-back.
In return, FC defense chief Rafael Czichos, who was still missing during the final training session because of malaise, got fit in time.
Sebastian Vasiliadis, who tested positive for the corona virus, was missing from the Bielefeld team.
Fabian Kunze had to take on his task.
But the accents were set by others.
FC attacker Anthony Modeste checked goalkeeper Stefan Ortega with a header from close range after just three minutes.
And on the other side, Patrick Wimmer tried a long-range shot (7th) against Marvin Schwänke - before exactly ten minutes later Özcan used Cologne's second goal opportunity to guide the guests.
After a good pass from Czichos, Özcan pushed the ball past Ortega to score his first goal of the season. Bielefeld tried to get an answer immediately and had a number of good chances. But Fabian Klos (25th) failed free-standing by the well-reacting Cologne goalkeeper Schwänke, Wimmer's shot (42nd) just before the goal was blocked by Luca Kilian, Benno Schmitz cleared the line (45th + 3) and at Klos' next attempt Alessandro Schöpf (53rd) shot just wide of the post. It was only Lasme who equalized around two minutes after being substituted on.
It was the deserved reward for the effort: Despite the early setback, the people of Bielefeld were willing, showed a committed performance and were in forward gear for long stretches. However, also favored because the Cologne team presented themselves as vulnerable again and again in the defense when the opponent was counter-pressed early and made many playback errors in midfield. However, Bielefeld lacked consistency and precision to really capitalize on it and make the first home win perfect.
The Cologne team, on the other hand, only came dangerously in front of the opposing goal after counterattacks, but no longer played it cleanly.
Dejan Ljubicic (68th), for example, played the ball in the back of Sebastian Andersson, who was posted free in front of the goal, and Florian Kainz shot a free kick from around 20 meters straight into the arms of goalkeeper Ortega.