Frankfurt survive Köln’s late surge in dramatic win

Frankfurt won back-to-back games for the first time since August with a 4-3 victory over Köln.

Köln’s coach Lukas Kwasniok reverted to a four defenders system with four changes from their derby defeat to the in-form Borussia Mönchengladbach side. Meanwhile, Dino Toppmöller finally handed Mario Götze his first league start before the midweek Champions League action.

Marvin Schwäbe was called into intervention inside three minutes when Jonathan Burkardt crossed a dangerous ball from the left side. A couple of minutes later, Jakub Kaminski puts the hosts in front with little ease. The VAR check took few minutes to clear Ragner Ache from potential offside call.

Frankfurt dominated the play after going behind, but they had to wait until the half-hour mark for their first big chance. Burkardt was thwarted by the stretching hand of Schwäbe. Köln’s long-serving goalkeeper was beaten by Arthur Theate and Mahmoud Dahoud before the half-time break, though.

The Belgian defender escaped Ache’s attention to convert from Faris Chaibi’s corner-kick delivery. Jan Thielmann nearly restored Köln’s lead from another set-piece play before Dahoud’s second goal in Frankfurt colors completed the turnaround.

In the sixth minute of the first-half injury-time, Sebastian Sebulonsen was dispossessed in the danger zone. Schwäbe denied Chaibi after Götze’s pass, but Dahoud was unattended as he scored from the rebound.

Köln had a quickfire start in the second-half with Thielmann gets his shot away in the first minute. Frankfurt’s response first came from their traveling fans as they threw fireworks, which led the referee Florian Badstübner to interuppt the match for few minutes.

After the resumption, Frankfurt completed the job with yet another Burkardt brace. The new signing combined well with Ritsu Doan for Frankfurt’s third goal in the 60th minute before adding another three minutes later. While Joel Schmeid was receiving medical attention, Köln were reduced to ten, and the former Mainz striker converted Ansgar Knauff’s through pass.

Substitute Marius Bülter pulled one back for the hosts with seven minutes remaining in the game. However, with the firework delay, Köln had 15 minutes in total for a dramatic comeback. Luca Waldschmidt, Bülter, and Said El Mala had chances to force a dramatic ending to the game. Then, the sought-after youngster sets up Waldschmidt’s goal in the 94th minute.

But Frankfurt managed to see out the result as they secured a back-to-back wins for the first time since the opening two matches of the season. It was the first successive league defeats for Köln since the end of September.

Toppmöller’s side will host Atalanta and Wolfsburg in their next two matches. Köln could drop to tenth if Union Berlin win in St. Pauli tomorrow. Kwasniok’s team will face Werder Bremen on matchday 12.