Slowly but surely, Germany’s friendliest town is getting back on to the map again, helped by a super-hot striker and a hard-working, tactically astute team
Only the most prominent 1. FC Köln supporter refused to join in the fun on the stroke of five o’clock on Saturday. Eyewitnesses at the RheinEnergieStadion reliably claimed that Hennes VIII, the four-legged football deity, bleated out a displeased “Määähhh!” as news of a goal from another stadium was read out over the public address system.
Bayern Munich had just conceded an equaliser to make it 2-2 away at 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt. Under normal circumstances, that turn of events would have done little to get fans in Cologne excited. But circumstances refuse to be normal this season. The champions’ misstep at the Commerzbank-Arena allowed Köln – yes: KÖLN – to close the gap at the top of the table to two points and allowed the faithful to connect with their inner John Lennon. Imagine. Imagine there is a heaven. “Deutscher Meister FC,” sang 50,000.
Related: After 20 years and for one night only, Cologne reach Bundesliga summit | Raphael Honigstein
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