Out of the bottom three after and winning a local derby, Leverkusen can sign off for the Bundesliga’s break with hopeIf Leverkusen have spent most of the campaign so far hiding their bright light under a bushel, it was shining high in the grey skies last weekend as they steamrollered long-time league-leaders Union Berlin. The highlight of Englische Woche, though? Don’t be fooled. If Sunday was the main course this, a 15-minute hop behind enemy lines on a fresh Wednesday night, was the dessert.That half-hour of second-half heaven against Union, where a goalless first half became a 5-0 virtuoso display, felt like a placebo in the context of the midweek derby at Köln, like a little holiday from reality. It...
The French forward’s remarkable return to form at 33 is one of the stories of this Bundesliga seasonIt was an evening of not one ending, but two, in Lower Saxony. It took two nods of Anthony Modeste’s head; the first, of the gentlest kind, to score one of the easiest goals of his curious career and end a mini-drought, the second a more forceful show of aerial power to provide an 89th-minute winner and send Köln’s travelling supporters into ecstasy. “My strength is my heading, not my right or my left foot as you saw in that move,” he laughed afterwards with some self-deprecation, having missed an arguably better chance 10 minutes before.The look of deflation on the face of...
Mark Uth was the homegrown hero on the pitch in the rout of Gladbach but the fans are eating out of the manager’s hands An outpouring of emotion at FC Köln is always taken with a pinch of salt by the rest of German football. It’s boom or bust, on top of the world or on hands and knees on the floor. This was the former, with local boy and goalscorer Mark Uth telling Sky at full time he’d be lobbying Steffen Baumgart for “two days off and a beer,” a request that was swiftly validated. “If he’s asking for it,” said Baumgart, “he’ll definitely get it.” Yet even in the glow of derby day victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach this...
Win at Gladbach followed a botched appointment, a shock cup exit and a player upsetting fans – a regular seven days, thenThere was only one way to celebrate. As they began to bask in a surprise derby victory at Borussia-Park, the plan of Cologne’s players quickly clicked into gear. The players in red scampered to the north-west corner of the ground where the away support would usually be penned in, and Salih Özcan uprooted the corner flag before popping a shirt on it and waving it in the air above his jubilant teammates.The ribbing wasn’t lost on Borussia Mönchengladbach’s players. This has been Marcus Thuram’s victory routine since he arrived from France, normally flying his flag in front of the...
Two almost identical goals by Ellyes Skhiri and a last-minute blunder by Haaland ended a 267-day wait for a Bundesliga winThe moments of tension tugged more frequently at Kölsch hearts as the afternoon went on, as the prize got closer and the stakes were raised. Yet Markus Gisdol stood there impassively, as watchful and inscrutable as Professor Yaffle, the woodpecker bookend in Bagpuss. When the final whistle went, the facade melted like an ice sculpture in the Sahara. Gisdol celebrated wildly, as his players did all over the Westfalen pitch, a mixture of relief and disbelief. The coach grabbed his assistant, Frank Kaspari, for a bear hug, then embraced Kingsley Ehizibue as he made it on to the field, with...