Trainer Markus Weinzierl raised his fist and took a deep breath.
FC Augsburg, of all places, has ended 1. FC Köln's home series.
The Swabians, without a win in 13 away games, won 2-0 (0-0) against the only team so far this season without a home defeat and improved from relegation place to 14th place for at least one night. André Hahn (72nd) and Niklas Dorsch (88th) .) with a dream goal scored the goals for Augsburg's first away win since February 28th.
"That was an extremely important game for us," said Hahn at DAZN. “I think we played a really good game. In the end it was the happy ending for us, but we worked for it. ”The Cologne team, who scored 15 points from the first seven home games under coach Steffen Baumgart, are now only three points ahead of the FCA and now have to fight orientate back down instead of upward as hoped. “We actually played a good game, but in the end it's again because we didn't score at the front,” said Salih Özcan.
Both teams started boldly and initially quite aggressively - much to the delight of the spectators, who applauded Marvin Schwänke early on. The goalkeeper of FC Köln parried Hahn's long-range shot safely (4th). Markus Weinzierl, coach of FC Augsburg, had to improvise again in Cologne in view of the tense personnel situation, after all, captain Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and Reece Oxford returned to central defense.
At Cologne, captain Jonas Hector was back in the starting eleven, “by far the most important player”, said his coach Baumgart. The former international managed the game from his left for FC, who had not lost any previous home games this season. The FCA, on the other hand, came with a weak away record. Michael Gregoritsch, who was appointed to the starting line-up for the first time in a year, should also score goals. Rubén Vargas (24th), whose shot just missed, had the chance to make it 1-0. It became the "intense" game predicted by Weinzierl, albeit with many interruptions and few highlights. The next attempt by Vargas grazed the Kölner Tor (29th).
During this phase, the hosts struggled to create promising situations. In addition, the standard situations in Cologne remained weak. The little-demanded Augsburg defense was safe until half-time, even without Felix Uduokhai, who tested positive for the corona virus. Immediately after the break, Cologne increased the pressure. Antony Modeste was offside with his dangerous header saved by Augsburg goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz (49th). Two minutes later Gikiewicz was back against Modeste. Baumgart cheered on the sidelines.
Weinzierl reacted with a double substitution after just under an hour, Fredrik Jensen came on for Daniel Caligiuri and Jan Morávek made way for Mads Pedersen.
As a result, FC Augsburg intensified its attacking efforts a little.
The Cologne team continued to look more dangerous, but then Hahn was the hosts in the penalty area and scored his second goal of the season.
Shortly before the end, the long-range shot of the strong cod from a good 30 meters fit exactly.