Ellyes Skhiri’s injury turned out to be a fracture of the head of his fibula, the Tunisian will be missing from 1. FC Köln for a few weeks and coach Steffen Baumgart will thus miss a key figure.
Dejan Ljubicic (24), who recovered from an infection in time for the start of training on Tuesday and was able to take part in team training, is expected to fill the gap against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Also back: Jonas Hector (31). The captain reported back after a cold. His long-term injured backup Jannes Horn (hip surgery) was also able to return to team training for a time. Sebastian Andersson and Niklas Hauptmann were absent due to illness.
Return to 4-2-3-1?
The remaining sessions until Sunday will show whether FC might return to the 4-2-3-1 and say goodbye to the diamond against Bayer. The background could be insights from Bayern’s game in Leverkusen, in which the record champions blocked the centre for the Werkself and thus made offensive life difficult. That is why Salih Özcan, after a rather mixed performance in Sinsheim, can also hope to be nominated for the starting eleven again.
