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Jonas Hector started against Kiel as a center forward
Photo: Ina Fassbender / dpa
The omnipresent Hector:
You want to play against the second division Holstein Kiel like a Bundesliga team and above all not allow yourself to be countered, said Cologne coach Friedhelm Funkel before the relegation first leg at DAZN. What he meant by that became clear after the kick-off: Captain Jonas Hector, mainly used in midfield, surprisingly played alone in the center of the storm. There he made sure that offensive balls were not lost directly or that switching situations of the opponent were nipped in the bud. Hector as a center forward, Joachim Löw could have used such a flexible player in his EM squad.
The result:
One Hector does not seem enough for not relegation. The Cologne team lost in the first leg of the Bundesliga relegation against the second division 0: 1 (0: 0). Simon Lorenz scored the goal (59th). The match report can be found here.
Tired storks:
Since April 6, it has been Kiel's twelfth game whose Bundesliga final spurt was compressed by two corona quarantines. Accordingly, the Kieler appeared tired in the past few weeks, in which they gambled away the direct promotion. Before the game in Cologne they seemed to have already finished with the Kielers, especially since Alexander Mühling and Jonas Meffert were missing two key players due to yellow card suspensions. With Alexander Ignovsky, Marco Komenda and Niklas Hauptmann, there were three players in the starting line-up who had hardly or never had this pleasure recently. And because Kiel's coach Ole Werner was there, he also swapped the goalkeeper, Ioannis Gelios replaced Thomas Dähne.
First half:
It was actually Hector in particular who became dangerous in the
first half
. Early on, when his shot was deflected by Marco Komenda (2nd). The 30-year-old developed the greatest chance himself when he won the ball against Kiel's number one player Hauke Wahl in the early pressing, but his graduation was again interrupted by Komenda at the last moment (30th). As if you could pitch Hector himself in the goal and he would be the best player on his team. For Kiel, Ignjovski was the only cause of excitement before the break when he knocked Ondrej Duda off his feet by the corner flag so rudely that red instead of yellow would have been appropriate. The colleagues also saw it this way:
Relegation with the ex:
Holstein Kiel was already relegated to the Bundesliga, in the 2017/2018 season the Schleswig-Holsteiners failed at VfL Wolfsburg. At that time two of the formative Kiel players: Rafael Czichos and Dominick Drexler, who went to Cologne for millions after the famous season to take the next step and are now fighting in a duel with their ex-club for non-relegation. The situation of Niklas Hauptmann, who was loaned out to Kiel from Cologne, was even in the starting eleven on Wednesday evening and can only lose in the overall relegation construct this year, was even a little crazier when he is returning to Cologne in the summer according to the current status.
Second half:
Of course, it was Hector again who was in focus - albeit in the supporting role. Kiel's trainer Ole Werner had stabilized the somewhat over-motivated Ignjovski in the 59th minute with Lorenz; Also in the 59th minute, Lorenz headed over Hector after a corner to give the second division team the lead. A “platinum hand” from the trainer, as DAZN commentator Jan Platte tumbled out of his mouth. The main reason why people talk about this scene after the game is that Janni Serra missed a possible preliminary decision with a bar header (78th) and Phil Neumann almost heroically blocked a free kick from Duda including the margin by Sebastian Andersson on the line (84th). ).
The outlook:
How much this result can be worth for Kiel, the statistics already show: the last time a second division won a relegation game nine years ago, Fortuna Düsseldorf against Hertha BSC. Since then, the second division have not won 17 times, and the second division has only prevailed twice since its introduction in 2009. The only two days of rest could also speak for the Kielers, who have been used to this workload for weeks. Kiel's coach Werner doesn't want to have anything to do with being the favorite, even after the first leg win: “We can only win, we're already in the second division. If something comes along, it's good, if not, everything stays the same for us, ”he said.