For 94 minutes, Steffen Baumgart had given everything again.

In the t-shirt, the 1. FC Köln coach was once again more active than some players at three degrees Celsius on the edge of the field in the 0-2 (0-0) against FC Augsburg.

Had screamed, cheered and even received a yellow card for hitting the ball.

When the game was over and the fight was lost, Baumgart looked withdrawn.

But when his colleague Markus Weinzierl claimed a legitimate victory for his team, Baumgart's eyes sparkled again.

“In the end, the winner is always right,” grumbled the FC coach.

And between the lines it was clear to see that he saw it differently.

"We played better football, had the clearly better game idea and the clearer possibilities," he explained defiantly: "And in the end it means: Tactical masterpiece by Augsburg."

Maybe Baumgart just wanted to put a protective hand over his mostly convincing team this season.

Because the performance on Friday was by no means as good as presented by the coach.

And so in the end there was a very bitter defeat.

Instead of spending the night at least one night in the Conference League place seven two game days before the end of the first half of the season, FC now only has three points ahead of FCA, who entered the game lying on the relegation spot.

And the beautiful home series is still over.

As the only Bundesliga club, Cologne were unbeaten at home before Friday.

Since Baumgart's inauguration, they had scored points against the European Cup participants Leipzig, Leverkusen and Union Berlin and won the other four home games.

And now they lost to Augsburg of all places.

Who had not won 13 away games in a row since the end of February.

“The bottom line was that we simply lacked the killer quality,” said Cologne's interim sports director Jörg Jakobs.

And instead of looking up, he looked down to be on the safe side.

In the two games before the winter break in Wolfsburg and against Stuttgart, "it would be good if we could still collect points," said Jakobs.

Regardless of this, Baumgart is certain “that we are on the right track.

And I won't let anyone talk me out of that either. "