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1. FC Köln qualified for Europe on Saturday (May 7th, 2022) despite a home defeat in the Bundesliga against VfL Wolfsburg. Against VfL, the Domstädter despaired especially of goalkeeper Pavao Pervan. The parallel results let FC celebrate anyway.
Ex-Cologne resident Yannik Gerhardt (42nd) played the party crasher for the planned European Cup party for a long time on Matchday 33 when Cologne lost 1-0 (0-1) to VfL Wolfsburg. FC ran almost the entire season with great will. However, accuracy in front of goal was lacking. In addition, VfL keeper Pavao Pervan parried several times.
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FC hits the post, “Wolves” the goal
The fans of 1. FC Köln showed their great euphoria even before kick-off. With a great choreography they demanded: “Shoot us to Europe”. And the hosts seemed to want to implement the fan order directly – FC started like firefighters: Anthony Modeste failed to “Wolves” goalkeeper Pervan (4th). 120 seconds later, Pervan deflected a Benno Schmitz shot to the post.
After a quarter of an hour, the high tempo that Cologne had set in the early stages slowed down a bit and Wolfsburg got into the game better. Salih Özcan again missed the possible FC lead (19th), Max Kruse failed at the first VfL chance (29th).
Shortly before the break, Wolfsburg shocked the hosts: After a quick attack and a dream pass from Lukas Nmecha, Jonas Wind put a cross on Gerhardt and the ex-Cologne player pushed in.
Pervan with strong reflexes
After the change of sides, Florian Kainz found his master again in Pervan (53rd). In return, Nmecha scored what was supposed to be the second goal for Wolfsburg – but referee Tobias Stieler took it back after the VAR checked it for offside.
The Domstädter didn’t give up: A deflected shot by Kainz rolled just wide to the right (60′), Modeste failed again at the VfL keeper (68’/75′). Cologne wanted to equalize with all their might and at times put on a real power play. The last big chance was thwarted again by the strong Pervan (90th).
Parallel results secure Cologne Europe
About a quarter of an hour before the end of the game, cheers erupted in the wide circle – but only because of the results in the other places. These certainly brought Cologne to seventh place. On the field, Cologne remained too imprecise in the last third. But that didn’t matter to the supporters after the final whistle: they stormed the pitch and celebrated their safe entry into international football.
On the last day of the game, Cologne can still move up from seventh place, which entitles them to play in the Europa Conference League, to a place in the Europa League. FC plays in Stuttgart on Saturday (May 14, 2022) at 3:30 p.m. Cologne is currently two points behind. Wolfsburg ends the season against champions Bayern Munich.
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