Exciting share of the spoils in Frankfurt

On the 19th match day of the season, 1. FC Köln played out an exciting 2-2 (0-1) draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. A crowd of 51,300 saw Marco Russ (33’) and Martin Fenin (63’) twice put the home side in front but FC twice hit back through Milivoje Novakovic (57’/74’).

Three changes

Köln trainer Christoph Daum made three changes to his starting eleven in comparison to the side that started in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with VfL Wolfsburg with Milivoje Novakovic, Pedro Geromel and Nemanja Vucicevic replacing Mannaseh Ishiaku, Kevin McKenna and Taner Yalcin from the out-set.

FC stood deep early on and frustrated the home side, who did manage to create a couple of chances but failed to make them count in the opening phase. Frankfurt kept up the pressure and were eventually rewarded for their offensive tactic in the 33rd minute when Russ launched himself at a Steinhöfer free-kick from the left and headed home from five meters out.

No luck for Ehret

It took until the 42nd minute before the visitors got a real sight of goal and when it did come, it was as the result of a goalkeeping error. Markus Proll left his goal to make a clearance but the ball fell to Fabrice Ehret, who subsequently struck on an empty goal. Unfortunately for Ehret, a defender managed to get back and clear the danger. There was little else doing in the remainder of the half and so Eintracht Frankfurt took their 1-0 lead into the break.

Köln rally

The FC coach apparently found the correct words at the half time break as his side took the initiative after the re-start. In the 52nd minute Novakovic came agonisingly close to levelling the scores with a header that went just centimetres over the crossbar. Five minutes later though, ‘Nova’ gave the travelling fans something to cheer about. Vucicevic passed to Miso Brecko, who in turn picked out Novakovic and the lofty striker coolly slotted into the far corner from 12 meters out to make it 1-1.

Nova cool as Frankfurt push

FC’s goal proved to stir the fire in Eintracht Frankfurt’s belly and the hosts began to take control. Firstly Mondragon was forced to make a good save from Liberopoulos (61’) but shortly after, the keeper was picking the ball out of the back of his net once again. Fenin hammered in a shot from 15 meters out which struck the underside of the crossbar, then Mondragon’s calf and finally bounced over the line to make it 2-1 for the home side.

Köln were not about to lie down though and minutes later a shot by Vucicevic could only be parried out by Proll and as Sergiu Radu poised to shoot, he was felled by Chris and the referee didn’t hesitate in pointing to the spot. Novakovic powerfully converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-2 and earn his side a deserved point in an extremely exciting game of football.


The team line-ups:

Eintracht Frankfurt: Pröll - Ochs, Russ, Chris, Petkovic - Steinhöfer, Fink, Meier, Köhler - Liberopoulos, Fenin
 
1. FC Köln: Mondragon - Matip, Geromel, Mohamad, Brecko - Vucicevic, Petit, Pezzoni, Ehret - Radu, Novakovic
 
Goals: 1-0 Russ (33‘), 1-1 Novakovic (57‘),2:1 Fenin (62‘), Novakovic (74‘)
 
Attendance: 51,300
 
Referee: Winkmann 

Yellow cards: Russ, Köhler/Ehret, Matip

Red card: Chris (73')