Five-star performance against Braunschweig
1. FC Köln picked up their first home win of the season in style against Eintracht Braunschweig. FC ran out 5:0 winners on Saturday evening at the RheinEnergieSTADION. Timo Hübers opened the scoring before Dejan Ljubicic’s brace sandwiched Tim Lemperle’s first goal of the season. Luca Waldschmidt rounded the scoring off late on.
Team news
Gerhard Struber made two changes from the side that started against Sandhausen. Eric Martel and Dejan Ljubicic replaced Mathias Olesen and Luca Waldschmidt.
Daniel Scherning named the same starting side that faced Eintracht Frankfurt on Monday in the DFB-Pokal.
Ahead at the break
FC started the game with purpose and almost went ahead within 60 seconds. A clever cutback from Ljubicic allowed Linton Maina to fire at goal, only to see Lennart Grill sprawl to save from close range.
The two teams then traded blows. Walid Ould-Chikh arrowed a volley just over the crossbar and Rayan Philippe’s low shot was smothered by Jonas Urbig. At the other end, Ljubicic brought another fine save from the flying Grill. In a wet and windy Müngersdorf, the Braunschweig stopper was also able to hold Tim Lemperle’s curling drive.
The breakthrough finally arrived in the 26th minute. A corner from Linton Maina swung through the night sky and was met powerfully by Timo Hübers. His header was already goalbound but clipped Tim Lemperle’s back on the way into the net. Hübers wheeled away but no matter: FC were ahead.
Eight minutes later, a second arrived for Struber’s side. A wonderful move was capped off by Dejan Ljubicic. A wonderful team move that was started by Maina saw him exchange passes before finding Ljubicic at the back post. He swept home and quickly turned the plaudits to Maina for a superb assist.
Ljubicic almost grabbed his second and FC’s third before the break, though a wonderful stop from Grill kept it to two. Jonas Urbig also had to make a vital intervention in added-time, getting a hand to the ball as Rayan Philippe attempted to round him. As a result, it remained two-nil heading into half-time.
Three more goals in the second-half
FC picked up where they left off after the break and, aside from a series of Braunschweig corners, the played continued in the same direction as it had been in the first-half.
In the 58th minute, the third goal arrived in style. A lovely burst of pace from Jan Thielmann earned him space on the right, he matched the sprint with an equally good cross and Tim Lemperle fired home from six yards out to get his name (officially) on the scoresheet.
Three minutes later, Lemperle turned provider. After some solid pressing bore fruit with the forward winning the ball back, he slipped in Dejan Ljubicic. The Austrian international produced a finish full of calmness and confidence, notching up his second and FC’s fourth.
Chances came and went throughout the second period but, two minutes from time, the pylons around the stadium lit up for a fifth time. Mathias Olesen found Denis Huseinbasic, he checked back to Luca Waldschmidt and his strike thundered past the helpless Grill with the aid of a deflection.
FC gained their first win of the 2024-25 league campaign in style and will hope to build on that next weekend. Struber’s side pay a visit to the VELTINS-Arena and FC Schalke 04 on Sunday, 1st September. Kick-off in the Ruhrpott is at 13:30 CEST.
Line-ups
1. FC Köln (4-2-2-2): Urbig – Thielmann, Hübers, Pauli, Pacarada – Martel (Olesen 88’), Huseinbasic – Ljubicic (Adamyan 78’), Maina – Downs (Tigges 86’), Lemperle (Waldschmidt 66’).
Eintracht Braunschweig (3-4-3): Grill – Ivanov, Nikolaou (Ehlers 85’), Bicakcic – Rittmüller, Köhler, Kaufmann, Di Michele Sanchez (Bell Bell 59’) – Gomez (Szabo 59’), Philippe (Raebiger 86’), Ould-Chikh (Tauer 66’).
Goals: 1:0, Hübers 26’. 2:0, Ljubicic 34’. 3:0, Lemperle 58’. 4:0, Ljubicic 61’. 5:0, Waldschmidt 88’.
Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck (Freiburg).
Booked: Thielmann (29’), Scherning (30’), Waldschmidt (78’), Tauer (86’).
Attendance: 50,000 (sold-out).
