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Many Cologne fans only wanted one thing after the final whistle: on the pitch
Photo:
IMAGO/Dennis Ewert/RHR-FOTO / IMAGO/RHR-Foto
Jonas Hector sat disappointed on the lawn of the Cologne stadium.
The captain of 1. FC Köln and his team had just lost 1-0 to VfL Wolfsburg.
It was an untimely defeat for Hector, FC wanted to play in Europe next season and every point could have counted.
At least that's what Hector thought, who apparently didn't know the results from the other Bundesliga places.
Because while the former national player would have preferred to be alone with his frustration, euphoric fans stormed onto the pitch behind him.
Thanks to the 4-2 defeat of TSG Hoffenheim against the Rhenish FC rivals Bayer Leverkusen, Cologne can no longer be relegated from seventh place in the table on the last matchday.
In any case, this place entitles you to participate in the Conference League, with a win against VfB Stuttgart on the last day of the game, Cologne could even go into the Europa League.
But neither Hector nor his teammates wanted to know anything about that.
There was no extensive European party like in 2017, when FC returned to the European Cup on the last day of the game with a home win against Mainz after a 25-year absence.
Hector looked at the fans, who apparently shouted the result from Hoffenheim, in disbelief and almost annoyed.
A win against Wolfsburg would have even made it into the Champions League, but FC is no longer able to do that.
Goal scorer Anthony Modeste, who this time was unable to take advantage of three good scoring chances (3rd minute, 69th, 74th), was subsequently carried on the hands of the supporters, and the goal nets were not safe from the crowds of fans either.
And yet the team quickly disappeared into the dressing room, they wanted to concentrate on the last game in Stuttgart, announced stadium announcer Michael Trippel.
"Somehow it's a little disappointment," said Mark Uth on the Sky TV channel.
»But we have made the city proud, there is nothing more beautiful.
We can celebrate together with the fans.«
From relegation to the European Cup
"Before the season, nobody would have thought that we would see such pictures here," said Thomas Kessler, head of the club's license area, on Sky about the space storm: "If the first disappointment about the defeat is gone, the boys can reward themselves a bit today . ." Kessler let himself be celebrated as a player by the fans five years ago when he entered the Europa League.
The fact that coach Steffen Baumgart's team has qualified for European business is quite remarkable: in May of last year, the team, which has hardly changed since then, only prevented relegation in the relegation against Holstein Kiel.
That's why Baumgart didn't want to know anything about a disappointment: "Actually, I don't feel like celebrating," said the coach: "If we lose, that annoys me. That's why it's a bit difficult for me to be euphoric.
But when I look at the table, I'm grinning inside."
And yet Baumgart would have found a players' party on the pitch wrong: "The season isn't over yet," he said: "We can do a polonaise through the city.
But we can still get sixth place next week.
It's okay for people to party.
Also that they are on the lawn.
But everyone should understand that if we lose 1-0, we won't go out in euphoria.«
The whole city had been looking forward to the game against Wolfsburg for days, and the club said it could have sold 200,000 tickets.
In the end, 50,000 spectators were allowed in, the south curve used a choreography to address future trips to Europe - and the organizers had installed fences around the field as a precaution to prevent a storming of the pitch after the final whistle - which ultimately did not succeed.
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