tough defending leads Köln to draw against Wolfsburg

For all the talk of Wolfsburg’s Champions League goals, Köln silenced their so-called scoring prowess with capable defending on the way to a 1-1 draw. The result was particularly pleasing as although Christoph Daum was hampered without Milivoje Novakovič, Pierre Wome and Pedro Geromel the overall play and discipline was top grade as Miso Brecko, Manasseh Ishiaku, Fabrice Ehret und Taner Yalcin moved into the starting eleven. Possibly most pleasing was the play of eighteen year old Taner Yalçın who was injected into the midfield and showed composure for his first match in the Bundesliga.

Geißböcke were looking to score early with Taner Yalcin and Petit linking up early for a threatening advance towards Manasseh Ishiaku being shut-down in the final stages by Wolfsburg defender Andrea Barzagli. Following Marcel Schäfer’s attempt which was saved by Faryd Mondragon, Kevin Pezzoni sent a long ball to Sergiu Radu and the Romanian drove the ball into the net past Diego Benaglio with eleven minutes remaining in the half.

Urgent to find the leveling goal, Wolfsburg went forward first with Zvjezdan Misimović effort and then Faryd Mondragón stopped his Bosnian teammate Edin Džeko before the hour. However with seventeen minutes left, Grafite fired to the left corner of the net from twenty meters and the match was now tied 1-1. Without further incident, the match ended with a draw.

A good start to the Rückrunde and now we turn a important match against Eintracht Frankfurt!