A heated Rhineland clash between 1. FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen is expected by both Steffen Baumgart and Gerardo Seoane on Sunday. Cologne’s coach kept his “solution for the central defence” to himself in advance, Leverkusen’s coach rates his players as “stress-resistant” enough for the task.
Christoph Daum, the old fox, tried the friendly trick again. After watching Bayer Leverkusen’s match against FC Bayern (1:5) alongside FC coach Steffen Baumgart, he quickly assigned 1st FC Cologne the role of favourite for the clash between the Rhineland rivals next Sunday: “Leverkusen is vulnerable, Steffen saw that,” Daum told Cologne’s “Express”. And he continued with conviction: “In this form, in a sold-out Cologne stadium with all the power, they could have problems getting a point at all.
Now you have to know that Daum’s son Marcel is Gerardo Seoane’s co-trainer and controls the live analysis on the Leverkusen bench. It’s obvious who the ex-coach wants to take the pressure off, and that’s quite legitimate – but it’s only partly in line with reality.
The results of the past few years speak volumes. FC lost all three of their most recent duels with neighbouring Leverkusen, always conceding at least three goals. The last win for the “Geißböcke” was two years ago, when Jan Thielmann made his debut and celebrated a 2:0 victory. Of the past 30 duels with Leverkusen, FC have won only five, with seven draws and 18 defeats.
Seoane: “Defeat against FC Bayern has left its mark “
The home side are therefore not favourites going into the match, which is of little concern to Seoane: “I’m interested in how Cologne are playing now, not statistics and history.” The Leverkusen coach admits “that the defeat against FC Bayern has left its mark”. Those, however, were wiped away in the Europa League match in Seville. The Swiss saw his marching orders followed: “Stand compactly, vary, find a good balance.”
This is exactly what the plan against FC envisages. In addition, there is “emotion control, that is an important issue. We must not let ourselves get out of control.” Whereby he assesses his players as “stress-resistant”, i.e. not influenced by the atmosphere.
Baumgart: “In football it always comes down to the collective.
The atmosphere will not only be in the stands, everyone involved expects it on the pitch as well: “Lots of duels, high intensity” is Seoane’s view, as is his colleague Baumgart: “In football, it always comes down to the collective. If we don’t get that right, then it looks like we’re not playing well.” It is important to “keep our intensity high”, demands the FC coach, which is exactly where the opponent wants to poke in: “We want to play around the pressing and then get into the tempo,” reveals Seoane.
Colleague Baumgart is still tinkering with the defensive concept: “It’s about a great unity.” He has “a solution in mind for the central defence”, but wants to keep it to himself. It is possible that he will build on a three-man defence with a strong central defender against Bayer’s goal-scorer Patrik Schick. It is also possible that a double six will be fielded. Apart from Ellyes Skhiri and Niklas Hauptmann, all Cologne players are fit, while the Werkself will have to do without Charles Aranguiz.
Energy, power, courage, pressing, tempo – these are words that are often used by both coaches before this match and provide a foretaste of what awaits the 50,000 (2800 of them Bayer fans) in Müngersdorf on Sunday. Doesn’t sound like boredom.
