48,200 fans came to celebrate the return to Europe. 1. FC Köln lost the game for the “Telekom Cup 2022” 1: 2 (0: 2) against Italy’s champions AC Milan, but showed a good performance and received a lot of applause for it.
The conclusion from the endurance test: Champions League starter Milan was simply too clever for FC, which is playing in the playoffs for the Conference League. Two really well-played attacks were enough for the Milanese to score. The FC, on the other hand, lacked the final strength. Because the people of Cologne started very powerfully. Anthony Modeste had three good chances in the early stages, Timo Hübers headed just over.
But then Milan, who had traveled without numerous national players, showed their class: The 0-1 was a dream goal – ex-Frankfurt Ante Rebic with the hoe on Olivier Giroud, the Frenchman casually lobbed over goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe (17th). And world champion Giroud followed suit: His deflected arc lamp hit Schwäbe – 0:2 (36th).
At this point, FC coach Steffen Baumgart had already had to make a change: Dejan Ljubicic apparently felt dizzy after being hit in the head, and Kingsley Schindler (28′) came on for him.
Anthony Modeste (right) and Timo Hübers (middle) rise to the header
In the final phase, the game became exciting and hectic again: FC made a well-deserved 1:2 (86th) thanks to substitute Florian Dietz. The youngster nodded his head after a Hector shot. Shortly thereafter, there was a pack formation in the Milan half.
Around the game 20 technical innovations were tested. The Cologne players Timo Hübers and Tim Lemperle were wired and ran out with a bodycam, referee Sascha Stegemann wore a ten gram camera on his headset.
Cologne’s sports boss Christian Keller explained before the game: “I’m generally a bit more skeptical about innovations on the field, but today we’ll just try it.” Telekom CFO Klaus Werner emphasized: “We want to make football even closer, but not at the expense of the players.”
This is how 1. FC Köln played: Schwäbe – Schmitz (46th Ehizibue), Hübers (61st Kilian), Chabot (72nd Arrey-Mbi), Pedersen (72nd Hector) – Skhiri (72nd Martel) – Ljubicic (28th Schindler/72 Thielmann), Uth (72 Olesen), Kainz (72 Maina) – Adamyan (46 Lemperle), Modeste (78 Dietz).