1. FC Köln fell to a 4:3 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday evening. Jakub Kamiński opened the scoring before Arthur Theate and Mahmoud Dahoud gave the visitors a half-time lead. Jonathan Burkardt’s brace inside three minutes meant Frankfurt came away with all three points. That was despite a late FC rally, where Marius Bülter and Luca Waldschmidt setup a grandstand finish.
Team news
Lukas Kwasniok made four changes to the side that lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach before the international break. Dominique Heintz, Sebastian Sebulonsen, Jan Thielmann and Ragnar Ache replaced Cenk, Florian Kainz, Marius Bülter and Said El Mala.
Dino Toppmöller opted for two alterations to the line-up that started against Mainz. Nnamdi Collins and Mario Götze came in for Rasmus Kristensen and Ellyes Skhiri.
Behind at the break
FC got the start they wanted just four minutes into the game. A long ball forward from Dominique Heintz was brought down by Ragnar Ache, who went past Michael Zetterer and cleverly teed up Jakub Kamiński. The Polish international curled into an open goal and, after a VAR check, was able to celebrate the opening goal.
After the breakthrough, there was little in the way of chances and the major moment came as the fans broke their 12 minutes of silence, protesting ahead of an upcoming government conference. Joël Schmied went closest for FC after 30 minutes, heading just wide from Ísak Jóhannesson’s corner.
Frankfurt slowly came to life towards the latter stages of the first period. Marvin Schwäbe made a stunning stop to deny Jonathan Burkardt’s header but was powerless to prevent Arthur Theate’s header from nestling in the back of the net after 39 minutes to level the scores. Just before the break, FC failed to clear their lines and Mahmoud Dahoud scored with the final kick of the half.
One-two from Frankfurt kills the game
After a slow start to the second period, Frankfurt killed the game off inside the space of three minutes. Jonathan Burkardt managed to nick ahead of Schmied to give the visitors breathing space. Moments later, he was able to wriggle past Kristoffer Lund to bundle the ball past Marvin Schwäbe and add his fourth and Frankfurt’s second.
The remainder of the second-half produced little in the way of note or chances. Marius Bülter did, however, manage to reduce the deficit late on as he fired low into the bottom corner after pinball inside the Frankfurt box. In the fourth minute of added time, Luca Waldschmidt headed home Said El Mala’s cross to bring FC within a goal.
The final few minutes passed without incident as FC were unable to earn what would have been a famous draw. Lukas Kwasniok’s side are next in action against SV Werder Bremen on Saturday, 29th November. Kick-off at the Weserstadion is at 15:30 CET.
Line-ups
1. FC Köln (4-3-3): Schwäbe – Sebulonsen, Schmied (Kainz 64’), Heintz, Lund – Husenbašić, Martel, Jóhannesson – Thielmann (El Mala 64’), Ache, Kamiński.
Eintracht Frankfurt (4-2-3-1): Zetterer – Collins, Roch, Theate, Brown – Dahoud, Chaibi – Doan (Kristensen 84’), Götze, Knauff – Burkardt.
Goals: 1:0, Kamiński 4’. 1:1, Theate 39’. 1:2, Dahoud 45+6’. 1:3, Burkardt 60’. 1:4, Burkardt 63’. 2:4, Bülter 83’. 3:4, Waldschmidt 90+4’.
Referee: Florian Badstübner (Nürnberg).
Booked: None.
Attendance: 50,000 (sold-out).