That was perhaps too much rotation: With a starting eleven changed to seven positions, 1. FC Köln suffered a severe setback in the fight to advance in the Conference League.

The Bundesliga club lost 0-1 (0-1) against Partizan Belgrade and slipped from first to third place after half of all games in the group stage.

The Cologne side also have to play two of the remaining three games away from home – and according to a UEFA verdict because of the riots before the game in Nice (1:1) even without their own supporters.

FC coach Steffen Baumgart left three of Cologne's strong players on the bench because of the unusual pressure for Cologne in captain Jonas Hector, midfielder Ellyes Skhiri and the in-form Dejan Ljubicic.

Svetozar Markovic headed the winning goal for the Serbs in the 9th minute, who have now taken the lead in the table and are expecting FC to play the second leg next Thursday.

Cologne misses the chances

Additionally motivated by a colorful choreography by their fans, FC started out active and dominant – but was caught cold.

After a free kick from Bibras Natcho, Markovic prevailed in an aerial duel against Luca Kilian and Nikola Soldo and headed in for Marvin Schwäbe.

Including the qualifying playoffs, it was the first time in the fifth European Cup game of the season that Cologne fell behind.

FC pressed on undeterred, but the well-organized Serbs were now even lower.

When the Cologne team played their way through the flanks, however, there were opportunities.

In the 23rd minute, Sargis Adamyan headed the ball onto the crossbar after a Kingsley Schindler cross.

Baumgart lived the scene on the sidelines with passion and started for an aerial header, then put his hands in front of his face.

The coach struggled even more nine minutes later when Florian Dietz got the ball free from five meters after a cross from Kristian Pedersen, but headed it into the arms of Partizan goalkeeper Aleksandar Popovic without any pressure.

Partizan only came close once more before the break when Schwäbe first blocked a shot from Andrija Pavlovic and then hit the post with his hand (41').

At the break, FC had 67 percent possession and 7:3 shots on goal, but the score was 0:1.

The performance was respectable despite the large-scale rotation, but lacked the individual class to translate that into something measurable.

After the break, Cologne continued to try, but Partizan countered dangerously.

Schwäbe came to the rescue against Queensy Menig (61st) and Pavlovic (64th), as so often in recent weeks.

Shortly before, Baumgart had brought in Ljubicic, Hector and Linton Maina, eleven minutes later striker Steffen Tigges and former international Mark Uth, who was able to return to the pitch after two months of adductor injury.