1. FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg played out a 1:1 draw on Saturday afternoon at the Volkswagen Arena. Faride Alidou’s first goal for the club opened the scoring before Kevin Paredes responded immediately for the hosts.
Team news
Niko Kovac made four changes to his Wolfsburg team that began against 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday past. Maxence Lacroix, Aster Vranckx, Mattias Svanberg and Kevin Paredes replaced Sebastiaan Bornauw, Yannick Gerhardt, Maximilian Arnold and Jakub Kaminski.
Timo Schultz opted for two alterations to the side that started against Borussia Dortmund last weekend. Benno Schmitz and Faride Alidou came into the side for Rasmus Carstensen and Linton Maina.
Level at the break
The game started with a fan boycott and continued until Thorben Siewer was struck in the head by Max FInkgräfe’s sliding clearance. The linesman was out of it and was replaced by Nicolas Winter. After moved to the touchline, Tobias Krull, goalkeeper at MTV Gifhorn, made his way out of the stands and into his new role as fourth official.
Back to the football: the first chance fell to the hosts after two minutes, as Mattias Svanberg’s shot was well-blocked by Jeff Chabot from close range.
Aside from Jan Thielmann’s early effort, FC’s first attempt on goal ended up in the back of the net. Florian Kainz’s free-kick was flicked on to Faride Alidou, who guided a header into the far top corner to grab his first goal for the club.
The joy would be sort lived, however. Vaclav Cerny and Joakim Maehle were afforded too much space and the latter managed to pick out Kevin Paredes at the back post to level from five yards out.
There was a moment of late controversy in the 15 minutes of added time in the first period. A handball appeal against Moritz Jenz was waved away without a second look by Sören Storks.
No goals in the second-half
The second-half started slowly and was void of any real chances until the 66th minute. There Jonas Wind headed Rogerio’s floated cross just wide of the near post. FC responded in kind, though Linton Maina’s shot from Jan Thielmann’s cutback was bravely blocked by the Wolfsburg backline.
There would be late chances at either end, too. Jan Thielmann pick-pocketed the Wolfsburg backline before driving towards goal. The angle was tight and his shot was a whisker wide of catching the post and finding the bottom corner. At the other end of the pitch, Marvin Schwäbe produced a superb reaction save to deny Paredes from getting a winning goal.
FC are next in action on Saturday 3rd February against Eintracht Frankfurt. Kick-off at the RheinEnergieSTADION is at 18:30 CET.
Line-ups
VfL Wolfsburg (4-2-3-1): Casteels – Maehle (Fischer 83‘), Lacroix, Jenz, Rogerio – Svanberg, Vranckx – Cerny (Baku 71’), Majer (Tomas 71’), Paredes – Wind (Pejcinovic 83‘).
1. FC Köln (4-4-2): Schwäbe – Schmitz (Carstensen 63‘), Hübers, Chabot, Finkgräfe – Alidou (Maina 63‘), Martel, Huseinbasic, Ljubicic (Diehl 76‘) – Thielmann (Dietz 87‘), Kainz (Christensen 87‘).
Goals: 0:1, Alidou 38’. 1:1, Paredes 40’.
Referee: Sören Storks (Velen).
Booked: Schmitz (43’), Ljubicic (45+8’), Kessler (45+10’), Svanberg (57‘), Maehle (68‘), Paredes (73‘), Huseinbasic (77‘), Lacroix (77‘), Pejcinovic (90+1’).
Attendance: 24,525.
