Head coach Xabi Alonso made three changes to the starting line-up for the meeting in the cathedral city. Josip Stanisic started on the right of the back three and Piero Hincapie on the left, in place of Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba. In attack, Patrik Schick was preferred to Amine Adli.
Supported by 5,000 Leverkusen fans in the sold-out away section, the Werkself were alert and dominant from the off. After just four minutes, some good combination play on the right side ended with Jonas Hofmann, whose low effort narrowly missed the target. The ball was almost exclusively in the possession of the visitors, while Köln - starting from the halfway line - focused mainly on robust defending. In the 13th minute, Jan Thielmann went in too hard on Granit Xhaka, and after reviewing the incident on the monitor, referee Tobias Stieler showed a red card to the Köln forward. The home side retreated further back after that as Bayer 04 continued to dominate proceedings and created some promising situations, but couldn't yet find the killer final ball.
Alonso's men kept going and increased the pressure. Just after Florian Wirtz (37') went close, Alejandro Grimaldo delivered a cross into the penalty area from the left, where Schick neatly flicked it on for Frimpong, who slotted in the opening goal from close range. Köln strung together a dangerous counter in added time but Faride Alidou headed wide, leaving the score at 1-0 at the break.
After the restart, the hosts showed themselves to be unfazed. Their best chance fell in the 51st minute, when Sargis Adamyan's volley from Rasmus Carstensen's right-wing cross hit the post. Despite being a man down, the Billy Goats were more active than in the first half, but that didn't unsettle the Werkself who remained calm and concentrated. Leverkusen's best opportunity of the second half presented itself to Grimaldo in the 73rd minute: substitute Adli cut the ball back from the left byline to the onrushing Spaniard, who pulled the trigger without hesitation - Köln defender Jeff Chabot deflected the ball decisively into the net to put Bayer 04 2-0 up. There was more good news from a Black-and-Red point of view in the 83rd minute, when Exequiel Palacios came on for Xhaka having recovered from a thigh injury. The contest petered out after that as it ended in a 2-0 derby victory for Bayer 04.
Two consecutive weeks of midweek fixtures begin for Leverkusen with the trip to Baku for the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg against Qarabag. Kick-off at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium is this Thursday, 7 March, at 18:45 CET. That's followed by a home game against VfL Wolfsburg on Bundesliga Matchday 25 on Sunday 10 March (kick-off 19:30 CET).
Match stats:
1. FC Köln: Schwäbe – Carstensen, Hübers, Chabot, Finkgräfe – Martel (Schmitz 83'), Ljubicic – Alidou (Tigges 83'), Thielmann, Maina (Huseinbasic 83') – Adamyan (Diehl 65', Pacarada 69')
Bayer 04: Hradecky – Stanisic, Tah, Hincapie (Taposba 79') – Frimpong (Tella 46'), Xhaka (Palacios 83'), Andrich, Grimaldo – Hofmann (Adli 65'), Wirtz – Schick (Iglesias 65')
Goals: 1-0 Frimpong (38'), 2-0 Grimaldo (73')
Yellow cards: Ljubicic, Martel / Frimpong, Stanisic
Red cards: Thielmann
Referee: Tobias Stieler (Hamburg)
Attendance: 50,000 (sellout) at the RheinEnergieSTADION
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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There’s lots going on at the BayArena today. The home game against FSV Mainz 05 is all about the numerous Bayer 04 fan clubs, whose birth - the founding of the "1. Fanclub 1976 Leverkusen" - dates back 50 years. A number of fan club representatives will be involved in awards, a banner display and a half-time matchday chat, and the Werkself are set to play in a special white fan club jersey. During half-time, Leverkusen mayor Stefan Hebbel and javelin world champion Steffi Nerius will also talk about the Olympic bid involving Leverkusen. Black and Red fans are advised to get to the stadium in good time today. Matchday news.
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The Werkself host Premier League club Arsenal in the Round of 16 first leg in the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League campaign. The match at the BayArena is on 10/11 March. Read on for information on ticket sales for this fixture.
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