1. FC Köln jumped the direct relegation at the last moment again from the shovel. Sebastiaan Bornauw’s later winning goal against FC Schalke 04 promoted the billy goats for the first time in the club’s history. t-online explains how things will go on for FC now.
Ralf Fährmann in the goal of FC Schalke 04 wanted to say goodbye to the Bundesliga with all his might on Saturday afternoon with a white vest. The goalkeeper thwarted chance after chance in the RheinEnergieStadion. “Ralf made the game of his life. I’m almost desperate over there,” said goalkeeper colleague Timo Horn after the final whistle.
Collective jubilation in the relegation
When Sebastian Andersson’s goal in the 70th minute was withdrawn due to an offside position from Salih Özcan, everything seemed to amount to the seventh relegation in the history of the Cologne club. But then Sebastiaan Bornauw came in the 86th minute: First Andersson failed free-standing by Fährmann, when Jonas Hector sharpened the ball again, Jan Thielmann crossed, headed central defender Bornauw to the redeeming 1-0 and the entire FC team started a collective jubilee .
With the simultaneous defeat of Werder Bremen and the victory of Arminia Bielefeld, the narrow victory for Cologne now means an extension of the season. “Now it’s a matter of recovering quickly and then knocking everything out for 180 minutes to stay in the league,” said Horn.
Captain Jonas Hector even looked a bit pissed off that the victory was not enough to directly rescue him, but wants to “take the good atmosphere within the team into the relegation games”.
Funkel does not want to run against Bochum
The home game against the third placed in the second division will take place on Wednesday evening, before the FC will fight for the league’s whereabouts on Saturday.
Only the Cologne opponent still has to be determined on Sunday. Greuther Fürth is currently in third place. However, the shamrocks that Fortuna Düsseldorf received are only one point behind the runner-up Holstein Kiel, who face SV Darmstadt 98 at home.
And then there is VfL Bochum, with three points ahead of Fürth as the leader of the table in the best starting position. The Bochumers are only missing one point against SV Sandhausen to make the direct promotion perfect.
Friedhelm Funkel wishes his former club, with which he lost the relegation against Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2011, to this one point. “If I had one wish, I wouldn’t want to play against Bochum because I had a very good time there,” said the FC coach.
FC with no experience in relegation
No matter which opponent it will ultimately be for 1. FC Köln: The billy goats will be the only team in the duel that has never contested a relegation. Fürth already drew the short straw against Hamburger SV in 2014, Holstein Kiel lost to VfL Wolfsburg in 2018. But it also means: FC will be the team that has never lost a relegation.
After the victory over Schalke, Friedhelm Funkel is convinced that his players can deal with the new situation: “You could see today that the team had their nerves under control, never gave them up, always believed in themselves. That will be the team give a boost. “
After ten days together in the quarantine hotel, the FC professionals were allowed to return to their families on Saturday after the game. The team has a day off on Sunday and should recover from the mentally and physically demanding game. “We will start work on Monday. We will see who our opponents will be and then discuss a few tactical things. Then we will go into Wednesday’s game with a lot of hope and courage.”
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Sonja Eich has been writing for the GEISSBLOG.KOELN. The independent online newspaper informs the fans of 1. FC Köln about everything to do with billy goats. Eich is a graduate of the Sports University in Cologne. Born in Cologne, she has been working as a sports reporter since she was a student.
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