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At the end of the eighth day, Union Berlin won 2-1 in Cologne, thus exacerbating the crisis for the Gisdol team. FC is still looking forward to its first win since March.
Wearing the carnival jersey, 1. FC Köln set three negative records in their long Bundesliga history and consequently Max Kruse fired into a relegation zone. The Cologne team lost 1: 2 (1: 1) on matchday eight against the severely weakened surprise team of 1. FC Union Berlin and are now penultimate. The loud chants, which a handful of fans behind the south turn through a large black speaker box inside the stadium, didn’t help either.
With 18 straight games without a win, FC set the club’s negative record in two seasons, 19 times in a row the Cologne team had only conceded one goal in 1974, ten straight home games without a win were only in the 2005/06 season. And next week FC has to go to Borussia Dortmund.
By contrast, the Berlin iron continued its rise unimpressed by major injury concerns and consolidated fifth place. The winning goal was curious. Kruse, previously ineffective, missed a penalty on the seventeenth attempt for the first time in the Bundesliga and failed to achieve the only Bundesliga record. But it sank the margin for the winning goal (72). Taiwo Awoniyi, on loan from English champions FC Liverpool and team manager Jürgen Klopp, had put the Union ahead with his first Bundesliga goal (27th). Meanwhile, Ellyes Skhiri tied (36th). Union is four points behind leaders FC Bayern Munich.
The pressure on Cologne had already increased before kick-off, as Mainz’s 3-1 victory in Freiburg had put FC in 17th place. And he almost fell behind early when Marcus Ingvartsen appeared free in front of Timo Horn after a seemingly unsuccessful offside trap, but lifted the ball over the goal. Union had to do without established players such as Christian Gentner, Joel Pohjanpalo, Keita Endo, Nico Schlotterbeck or Marius Bülter, and Sebastian Griesbeck had to be injured in just under half an hour.
By now, the guests, who only won the two games against Cologne last year, were already leading through Awoniyi’s goal, which exploited a misunderstanding between Marius Wolf and Rafael Czichos. A Skhiri header from an Ondrej Duda free kick sent FC back to play before half-time.
Even after the move, it remained a manageable game. Significant for this: both former Unionist Sebastian Andersson, who entered the game in the middle of the Cologne storm, and Berlin’s newest strong offensive strategist Kruse, in whom FC also had little interest before the season, practically they were not seen. But then Kruse became the winner of the match.
