Bayer Leverkusen gives away a lead that was believed to be safe in the Rhenish derby at 1. FC Köln.
Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky is clearly critical.
Cologne celebrate their double goalscorer.
Cologne - The fans of 1. FC Köln celebrated their double-pack hero Anthony Modeste with loud chants, the Bayer Leverkusen professionals crept disappointed into the guest curve.
With a thrilling race to catch up, the Cologne team defended their impressive home series in the 2-2 (0-2) derby on Sunday and prevented their Rhenish rivals from returning to third place.
With his two goals in the second half (63rd / 82nd minute) Modeste cracked the 50-goal mark in the Bundesliga as the second foreign FC professional after Toni Polster.
"I think that a lot of people would sign the 2-2," said the 33-year-old Frenchman at DAZN with satisfaction.
“We turned the game around, that's our strength this season.
This is our living room, it is not easy to win here. ”This season, the Cologne team took seven points behind and are still undefeated in front of their own audience.
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Cup off: Towers struggle again with their defensive work
After losing at Medi Bareuth in the round of 16 for the BBL Cup, Hamburg Towers' defensive performance is again under criticism.
Looking at the 84: 93 (47:47) defeat on Tuesday evening at the cup premiere for the Hanseatic League, head coach Pedro Calles complained: "For a large part of the game we didn't show the defensive we wanted to play."
Cup out: Towers struggle again with their defensive work
Leverkusen, on the other hand, remained without a win in the third competitive game in a row and suffered the next setback after the 1: 5 against FC Bayern a week earlier.
“If you fall from 2-2 to 2-2 as the leading team in the derby, it feels like a defeat.
We could have led 3: 0, 4: 0 through counter situations and then we switch off, ”said goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky.
“It pisses me off, it's annoying.” Patrik Schick (15th) and Karim Bellarabi (17th) met for Leverkusen in front of 49,600 spectators in the RheinEnergieStadion.
Bayer coach Gerardo Seoane reacted to the intense stress three days after the Sevilla trip in the Europa League with two fresh forces on the offensive. In addition to Schick, who was replaced shortly before the end, the ex-Cologne Florian Wirtz also joined the team. The 18-year-old, whose move to the other side of the Rhine there was a lot of discussion, was mercilessly whistled by the Cologne audience every time the ball was touched.
Nevertheless, the offensive midfielder was once more an invigorating element in the team and was involved in many attacks by the agile Leverkusen team. The team's travel strains were hardly noticeable and so the quick 2-0 lead within 100 seconds through a goal from Schick after a fine pass from Moussa Diaby and shortly afterwards from Bellarabi, who converted a rebound, was almost logical. For Schick it was already the eighth goal of the season, the Leverkusen-based team scored a total of eleven goals in the first 20 minutes of this season - a league record.
Thus, the plan of FC coach Baumgart, who had installed a more compact defense with double six and birthday child Luca Kilian to react to the speed of the Bayer attack series, was quickly thrown overboard. FC stabilizer Ellyes Skhiri was still unavailable due to injury and the team is noticeably absent. Cologne were also lucky when right-back Jeremie Frimpong hit the crossbar on a counterattack in the 25th minute.
The hosts themselves had few scoring opportunities.
Captain Jonas Hector, who returned to the team, had two: one shot from a distance and one with his head (33rd / 44th).
Modeste had a difficult attack against the strong Leverkusen central defense, but was there for the first time after an hour and marked the connection goal after Hector's cross.
The Cologne team continued to press for the equalizer and Modeste was there again and scored the much-acclaimed point win with his sixth goal of the season.
“What distinguishes the boys is that they do not give up,” said coach Baumgart, who reported in the meantime with clear words: “I asked them to have courage and not to piss themselves.” Dpa