RThanks to a gala performance by the magic feet Christopher Nkunku and Dani Olmo, B Leipzig has climbed to a Champions League rank for the first time this season – at least for one night. The runner-up from last season beat an offensively harmless 1. FC Köln 3-1 (1-0) on Friday evening. The Saxons jumped to fourth place and have the same number of points as fifth-placed Union Berlin (34 points).
Nkunku (25th) gave Leipzig the lead in front of 15,000 spectators with a remarkable free kick and scored his eleventh goal of the season. Olmo increased in the second round with a long-range shot (54th) and hung up for Angeliño (57th). Tim Lemperle (90+1) scored for FC.
“It was a good game from us, a complete performance. It was against a direct competitor in terms of international places. In the end it’s a deserved win, which helps us a lot in the table. You can see that we have made some steps in terms of control, positioning and possession of the ball,” Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi told the DAZN streaming service, and goalscorer Dani Olmo added: “I’m very happy with our performance. We deserve it.”
Already on Saturday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at Sky), sixth-placed SC Freiburg (33 points) can overtake RB in a duel with FSV Mainz 05. The Cologne team had to let go and are seventh with 32 points.
Before the game, RB coach Domenico Tedesco had asserted that he had not looked at the table “for weeks” and was not yet concerned with the race for the premier class. “I didn’t know that we could finish fourth with a win,” said the coach. He prefers to focus on preventing similar defensive mistakes as those that led to the 2-3 defeat at Bayern Munich last matchday.
On the offensive, Tedesco called for a balance between short passes and long balls, but the attacking line-up of André Silva, Olmo and Nkunku struggled at the beginning. Cologne intervened as energetically as his trainer Steffen Baumgart cheered on after being released from the corona quarantine. The last time he watched the 1-0 win against SC Freiburg in isolation, pictures of it became an internet hit.
In Leipzig it only became a bit more spectacular in the middle of the first half. The offensively harmless Cologne team in this phase, who had to do without their sick top striker Anthony Modeste (14 goals this season out of a total of 33 by Cologne), now saw themselves under stress. After a relay pass, Nkunku (23rd) couldn’t find a suitable target from an acute angle – Cologne’s Luca Kilian saved in dire need. He and his partner Timo Hübers had their hands full but were powerless when Nkunku curled an 18-yard free-kick into the corner with plenty of slicing.
After the break, Dani Olmo turned up the heat. The Spaniard, who has been getting better and better lately, was not attacked after a pass by Amadou Haidara and scored flat on the bottom left. Cologne could no longer find access and Nkunku served Olmo, who saw Angeliño in the center three minutes after his goal. Olmo’s compatriot just had to push in. Cologne’s best chance to date was shot by Modeste’s substitute Sebastian Andersson (66′) before FC goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe had to save again immediately against Nkunku (68′).
“We didn’t use the space in the first half. Unfortunately, we then got counterattacks. That is bitter. We played well but didn’t take advantage of the chances to score,” said Cologne’s Salih Özcan, emphasizing: “We’re happy with our season. We can build on the performance.”
