1. FC Köln were beaten 2:0 by SV Darmstadt 98 on Saturday afternoon at the RheinEnergieSTADION. Christoph Klarer and Oscar Vilhelmsson scored for the visitors.
Team news
Timo Schultz made two changes to the side that started the defeat against Bayern Munich last weekend. Eric Martel and Luca Waldschmidt came into the team for Dejan Ljubicic and Linton Maina.
Torsten Lieberknecht was forced into one alteration from last week’s narrow loss to SC Freiburg. Captain Fabian Holland tore his ACL with Tim Skarke his replacement.
Stalemate at half-time
The game began slowly, with neither side able to make much headway in the opening 15 minutes. Chances were at a premium, with Eric Martel and Luca Waldschmidt failing to hit the target. The first real moment of promise arrived after 20 minutes, with Faride Alidou turning and shooting from the edge of the box. His effort hit the post and bounced away.
The remainder of the first-half produced little in the way of chances. Sargis Adamyan poked into the side-netting, while Tim Skarke produced a relatively simple save from Marvin Schwäbe. After a few knocks and bumps, the game ebbed into the half-time break after four added minutes.
Darmstadt secure three points
After the restart, Oscar Vilhelmsson had a great chance to open the scoring only to fire straight at Marvin Schwäbe. However, 10 minutes later, he was powerless to prevent Christoph Klarer from firing home from close range after FC failed to clear a corner.
The rest of the second-half went by, much like the first period, without Marcel Schuhen having to do too much. At the end, it was Vilhelmsson who secured the win thanks to a tap-in. He converted after Gerrit Holtmann’s initial effort was saved by Marvin Schwäbe.
FC are next in action against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday, 28th April at 17:30 CEST.
Line-ups
1. FC Köln (4-4-2): Schwäbe – Thielmann, Hübers, Chabot, Finkgräfe – Alidou (Maina 46‘), Christensen (Uth 80’), Martel (Huseinbasic 67’), Kainz (Schmitz 67’) – Waldschmidt (Tigges 67’), Adamyan.
SV Darmstadt 98 (3-4-3): Schuhen – Riedel, Klarer, Maglica – Bader, Kempe (Zimmermann 82‘), Gjasula (Müller 43‘), Nürnberger (Karic 82‘) – Skarke (Holtmann 66‘), Seydel (Honsak 46‘), Vilhelmsson.
Goals: 0:1, Klarer 57‘. 0:2, Vilhelmsson 90‘.
Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck (Freiburg).
Booked: Holtmann (88’).
Attendance: 50,000 (sold-out).
