Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart has clearly expressed his hope for a peaceful return game for FC in the Europa Conference League against OGC Nice.
"Nice in particular will be remembered for a long time - and not in a positive way," said the 50-year-old on Wednesday, referring to the serious riots in the first leg almost two months ago.
"That's why I hope that everyone realizes that it's about football.
Football can't be there to constantly have a stage where some idiot thinks they have to show themselves."
The first leg had started about an hour late due to serious riots.
In Nice on September 8 there were several injuries around the game.
A fan fell from the upper tier of the audience.
"Football is the best thing in the world," Baumgart said one day before the two clubs met again this Thursday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League and on RTL).
"It's about showing emotion on the pitch.
It's about simply celebrating football festivals." The FC coach added: "Regardless of the fact that the teams will of course go into the game with a lot of passion because both teams want to win this game, I just hope that we can get out of it learned from the first game that it doesn't work that way."
Cologne's Hector does not want to go to the World Cup
Meanwhile, Baumgart says he has also spoken to national coach Hansi Flick and Jonas Hector about the left-back's possible participation in the World Cup.
The TV broadcaster Sky had reported that Flick had asked Hector about a possible return to the national team.
However, the 32-year-old rejected a comeback.
"I spoke to both of them," said Baumgart and added: "It's a decision that Jonas made alone." Baumgart also said: "Jonas made a decision and we should accept it."
Flick wants to nominate his 26 World Cup players next Thursday.
The tournament in Qatar starts on November 20th.
Currently injured, Hector has 43 caps for Germany.
The defender from Cologne made his last appearance in the national jersey in November 2019.