1. FC Köln ran out 7:1 winners in their first pre-season friendly against SV Bergisch Gladbach. Linton Maina’s brace opened the scoring in front of a sold-out BELKAW-Arena crowd. Steffen Tigges, Ragnar Ache, Etienne Borie, Fayssal Harchaoui and Luca Waldschmidt were also on target in the REWE sponsored match.
Ahead at half-time
The first period started somewhat slowly. However, it was lucky 13th minute for the breakthrough. Florian Kainz managed to pick out Linton Maina with a fine, low cross and he squeezed the ball home at the near post. Maina doubled his tally three minutes later, collecting a Kainz pass and curling into the far corner from 16 yards.
Steffen Tigges also got his name on the scoresheet in a frantic five-minute stint. His long-range effort from 25 yards nestled nicely in the bottom corner. Bergisch Gladbach did get a goal of their own, however. Claudio Heider took aim after a misplaced pass and caught Marvin Schwäbe offguard to give the hosts something to cheer.
Three more goals after the break
Lukas Kwasniok changed the entire line-up for the second-half, meaning a first run-out for Ron-Robert Zieler, Tom Krauß, Jakub Kaminski and Ragnar Ache in red and white. It only took 30 seconds for the latter to make an impact. He collected a long ball before holding off his defender, turning inside and lashing into the bottom corner.
Goals five and six arrived not long after. Kaminski’s cross was kept alive brilliantly by Ache, who found Etienne Borie on the edge of the area to pick out the bottom corner. It was a similar affair for the sixth, with Fayssal Harchaoui finding the opposite side of the goal with a low strike.
The final goal of the game also fell the way of Lukas Kwasniok’s side. Luca Waldschmidt finished with aplomb after good work in the build-up from Kaminski and Jusuf Gazibegovic.
FC are next in action on Friday, 18th July at 18:00 CEST against Fortuna Köln. It will be the final friendly before the training camp, with the squad flying to Austria a day later.
Line-ups
1. FC Köln first-half (3-4-2-1): Schwäbe – Telle, Hübers, Heintz – Christensen, Huseinbasic, Johannesson, Tigges – Maina, Kainz – Rondic (Niang 30‘).
1. FC Köln second-half (4-2-3-1): Zieler – Gazibegovic, Schmied, Pauli, Pacarada –Harchaoui, Krauß – Waldschmidt, Borie, Kaminski – Ache (M. El Mala 75‘).
Goals: 0:1, Maina 13‘. 0:2, Maina 16‘. 0:3, Tigges 18‘. 1:3, Heider 21‘. 1:4, Ache 46‘. 1:5, Borie 57‘. 1:6, Harchaoui 60‘. 1:7, Waldschmidt 84‘.
Referee: Nico Fuchs (Bergisch Gladbach).
Attendance: 5,000 (sold-out).