"To the tongue" - The Bavarians do not let themselves be fooled in Cologne's carnival stronghold

1. FC Köln against FC Bayern: With a 4: 1 victory, the Munich team in the carnival stronghold sobered up and regained the league lead of the Bundesliga in the Rhineland.

• 1.FC Cologne 1-4 Bayern Munich (0-3)
• Master duel between record champions and RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga comes to a head.
• Bayern lead 3-0 in Cologne after just twelve minutes.

The Bavarians received FC Bayern yesterday afternoon in a traditional carnival jersey with red and white striped socks. However, the German record champions had no desire to be fooled by billy goats . The Munich team also won the game 4: 1 thanks to an outstanding first half. With this victory, the Reds continue to greet in the table from where they love to see: at the top.

“The way we started here, you couldn't count on that. I have to say, we took advantage of the first chances ice cold, that was really well played, ”was Manuel Neuer's conclusion after the game at Sky. Indeed: the initial phase was tough! Driven by a tireless Thiago , FCB gave his opponent no respite in his own half and pressed him there from the first minute. Accordingly, the lead goal by Robert Lewandowski fell . After a one-two pass over the left side, the ball came to Thomas Müller , who stuck it in the penalty area to Lewy, who easily pushed in the 1-0 lead (3rd minute).

FC Bayern wins in Cologne: after 12 minutes, 3: 0

120 seconds later Kingsley Coman increased to 2: 0. The Frenchman personally captured the ball in midfield and thus initiated the Munich counterattack . After a couple of remarkable ball relays, he finished dry from ten meters. Serge Gnabry got the third strike of the opening quarter of an hour when he dribbled after a corner kick parallel to the penalty area line, twice delayed and shot unsustainably flat into the corner (12th).

What a game from @Manuel_Neuer! #KOEFCB pic.twitter.com/lIxDWCVkFT

Until the break whistle, the record champions could easily have increased to 6: 0, but Lewandowski (17th), Thiago (20th) and Coman (25th) were too imprecise in the goal scoring. The offensive series around Lewandowksi, Müller, Coman and Gnabry presented themselves yesterday in an extremely variable manner, swapping positions cheerfully and thus presenting the Cologne back team with enormous problems. “We could have scored up to ten goals. It was more than this 4: 1, ”complained Captain Neuer . Bitter: After less than half an hour, Jerome Boateng picked up a yellow card after an unnecessary foul in his own half - it was his fifth, which is why he will be missing against SC Paderborn on Friday evening. After the break, Lucas Hernandez came into the game for him.

4️⃣⚽ goals at the away match and another 3️⃣ points. Not bad, right? @FCBayern #teamwork #KOEFCB pic.twitter.com/kp45oCBeRc

As dominant as Bayern appeared in the first 45 minutes, they were shaky after the restart. This time it was the Cologne team who got off to a flying start: When Cordoba scored , the Reds were lucky that they were canceled due to offside. After this wake-up call, the home side played boldly forward and made the encounter more balanced. After a good hour of play, Mark Uth had a great chance of scoring the goal when he ran towards Manuel Neuer alone. But the Bayern goalkeeper ran bravely out of his goal and spiked the FC attacker at the last moment from the foot. FCB coach Hansi Flick reacted to this and brought Corentin Tolisso for Joshua Kimmich (58.). "It annoys me that we didn't continue playing as consistently as in the first half," complained Neuer.

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WOW @esmuellert_ pic.twitter.com/kUaX7N4jSb

Encouraged by the Cologne offensive drive, Gnabry took a heart and started between the center line and the penalty area for the solo run, which he finished with a remarkable flick to 4: 0 (66.). The billy goats' response was not long in coming: After Kainz's submission, Uth netted for 1: 4 (70).

It should remain the only Cologne goal that day, also because Captain Neuer defused a few "hundred percent". Thomas Müller summarized the afternoon as follows: "The first half was tongue-in-cheek, in the second half we made ourselves too comfortable."

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