1. FC Köln split 1-1 (0-1) against RCD Mallorca in the test. After that, it’s all about a whistle. Has the Spanish bank intervened?
1. FC Köln ended their training camp in Austria with the friendly against RCD Mallorca. Thanks to a goal by Mathias Olesen (62nd), the game was not lost. But afterwards the anger was still great. Because in the first half there were extraordinary scenes.
The first half hour was rough. The Spaniards were sometimes too hard in the duels. A pack formed after just 20 minutes after a Mallorquin had once again sent a man from Cologne down with a rude tackle.
Selke’s counterattack is whistled – by Mallorca
However, a scene in the 32nd minute caused a great deal of excitement in the Max Aicher Stadium right next to Salzburg Airport. Davie Selke had just been sent down with a pass from Luca Waldschmidt when the FC striker suddenly faltered, looked around and finally stopped the attack. He had heard a whistle and therefore thought he was offside.
The surprising thing was that the assistant hadn’t raised his flag, and when Selke turned to the referee, he signaled: He hadn’t whistled at all. Selke therefore knew immediately what had happened. The whistle came from the bench of RCD Mallorca. The 28-year-old immediately stormed towards the opposing bench, and Thomas Kessler, director of licensed players, also called out indignantly towards the Spaniards.
Baumgart confirms scandal whistle
The referee tried to talk to those responsible on the bench, who appeared unimpressed, but then at least there were no further incidents. Steffen Baumgart made it clear afterwards what had actually happened: “I’ve never seen an attack whistle away from the bench,” said the 51-year-old after the 1-1 draw. “So now we have to learn that the opposing bank can also call the whistle.”
Baumgart confirmed that there was “a clear whistle” from the Spanish bank in the scene in question. “It wasn’t the first either, it was the second or third. That was annoying.” A gross unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of the opponent, who was surprised at the sporting insignificance of the test match. After all, it was then only about goals and duels and no longer about supposed whistles.
Baumgart satisfied with Cologne’s reaction
FC had found it difficult to get into the game, could neither cope with the opponent’s physically tough gait nor with the equally unusual man-marking over large parts of the field. Only towards the end of the first half, just before the 0-1 header from a free kick, did FC get into the game better.
“You couldn’t compare the two halves,” said Baumgart afterwards. “We didn’t have as much insight into the opponent as we usually have in the Bundesliga. We had to adjust to man marking first.” Only a tough duel from Eric Martel on the halfway line just before the end of the first half seemed like a wake-up call for FC.
“In the second half we adjusted a lot more to our opponents. We were much more present, we didn’t just let ourselves get hurt, we hurt ourselves too,” said Baumgart. “It’s also a learning process. When you’re playing against such a difficult team, you have to intervene fairly.” FC did that and ultimately deservedly equalized. The billy goats then traveled back to Cologne. The training camp is over, on Monday the preparations will continue at Geißbockheim.
2023-07-22 09:43:31
#test #overshadowed #scandal #whistle
