Compared with the 2-2 draw against Newcastle United in midweek, coach Kasper Hjulmand made two changes to his starting line-up: Jonas Hofmann and Christian Kofane came in for Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick, who were not in the matchday squad due to injury.
Bayer 04 took control right at the start of the game and launched their first attacks with passes up top to Kofane. The striker had the first good effort on goal on nine minutes, but was denied by the FC Köln keeper Marvin Schwäbe. Malik Tillman's attempt on 18 minutes went just wide of the target. Shortly after that, Luca Waldschmidt narrowly missed a shot on the slide from a Said El Mala's cross (21’). Waldschmidt tried again seven minutes later with a powerful shot from the right but Mark Flekken made the save (28'). The best chance for Bayer 04 came on 34 minutes for Robert Andrich from an Aleix Garcia corner (34'). Despite Bayer 04 having a clear majority of chances, the two teams went into half-time with a 0-0 scoreline.
The second half began with another great chance for Bayer 04: Tillman stole the ball from Sebastian Sebulonsen in the build-up and ran unchallenged towards Schwäbe. However, the Leverkusen player's shot sailed over the bar (48'). Ibrahim Maza then tried his luck from a tight angle, but the FC Köln keeper saved again (50'). The same happened a little later when Kofane tried to score with a header (55').
Bayer 04 continued to exert more pressure. Nevertheless, Hjulmand rotated his forwards brining on Nathan Tella and Martin Terrier for Hofmann and Ernest Poku (62'). And the Werkself coach proved to have the Midas touch: Terrier gave the Werkself a well-deserved 1-0 lead four minutes after coming on as a substitute with an inspired scorpion shot from Arthur's cross (66') - a wonder goal from the Frenchman. And more was to follow with captain Andrich doubling the lead at 2-0 with a powerful header from a Garcia corner. More subs came on - Loïc Badé and Alejo Sarco for Garcia and Kofane (76') and later Jeanuel Belocian for Tillman (86') - as the Werkself went on to secure a well-deserved home win.
The final match of the calendar year is next Saturday, 20 December (kick-off: 18:30 CET), when the Werkself are way to RB Leipzig. 2026 kicks off on 10 January at 18:30 CET with a home game against VfB Stuttgart.
Match stats:
Bayer 04: Flekken - Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba - Arthur, Maza, Garcia (Badé 76’), Poku (Tella 62’) - Hofmann (Terrier 62’), Tillman (Belocian 86’) - Kofane (Sarco 76’)
FC Köln: Schwäbe - Sebulonsen, Martel (Johannesson 80’), van den Berg - Thielemann, Huseinbasic (Özkacar 46’), Krauß, Kaminski - Waldschmidt (Maina 46’), El Mala (Lund 72’), Bülter (Ache 46’)
Goals: 1-0 Terrier (66'), 2-0 Andrich (72')
Yellow cards: Arthur, Quansah - Martel
Referee: Harm Osmers (Hanover)
Attendance: 30,210 (sold out) at the BayArena
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