1st Leg – Köln 0-1 Holstein Kiel

As the final whistle blew on Matchday 34 in the top two divisions in Germany, it meant the end of an especially tiring season for most teams. However, for a couple of the sides, their most important fixture was still to come – the relegation play-off, to be played across two legs. The tie combines the clubs that finished third from bottom in the top tier and third from top in the second, to play 180 minutes to determine the success of the respective teams’ entire seasons. For the Bundesliga side, a win means pure relief and a chance to build for the next campaign knowing that their top-flight status remains. For the 2. Bundesliga outfit, the pressure is arguably more on their opponents to perform, but with promotion on the line, the incentive for victory is no less. However, history does not look kindly on the second-tier side, and only on six occasions in the past have the promotion-seekers achieved their goal, although the most recent example came just two years ago, when Union Berlin toppled Stuttgart to reach the top league for the first time. Holstein Kiel did not feature in the play-off too long ago themselves, having been beaten by Wolfsburg in the 2017/18 season’s edition of the fixture. This time around though they sought a different outcome.

With neither team wanting to give anything away so early on in the tie, the first leg can often be cagey. But with game one being held at Köln’s Rhein-Energie Stadion, and after they played a day earlier than Kiel at the weekend, the odds seemed to be in the Bundesliga side’s favour for the opening 90 minutes at least. However, knowing how long there was to go in the play-off, the hosts never really moved into top gear. That is not to say that they did not fashion opportunities for themselves, the most notable of which came early in the second half when a ball was flashed across the face of goal, but just evaded two players at the far post. The Köln players were arguably just using their experience and biding their time, but when they got caught out on the hour mark, it appeared as if the home team’s approach to the game was ill-judged.

An inferior footballing experience could have certainly been an issue in the first leg for Kiel, but their manager may be where this inexperience can most clearly be seen. Coach Ole Werner, at just 33 years of age, is currently the boss of a number of players to whom he is younger. However, his limited years in the business have not restricted him or his side this campaign, steering Holstein to a third-place finish in Bundesliga 2 and even a DFB-Pokal semi-final. Furthermore, he already seems to have acquired the knack of making inspired substitutions, demonstrating that to a tee with his introduction of Simon Lorenz with half an hour to play. Just seconds after stepping onto the field, defender Lorenz latched onto a second ball from a set-piece situation and nodded an effort into the far corner of the goal, with Köln-loyal goalkeeper Timo Horn rooted to the spot. From there on, it only ever looked as if the visitors would be the side to clinch another goal and they nearly did so through a thumping Fabian Reese header. However, his attempt crashed back off the crossbar and Köln survived conceding a second, perhaps an advantage that would have been too great to overturn. It would have given Kiel and added sense of security going into their home leg, but with the score line still just 1-0, the tie was far from over.

2nd Leg – Holstein Kiel 1-5 Köln

Three days after the first cagey encounter, the return of fans to the Holstein-Stadion was hoped that it would provide the necessary boost to spark this tie into life. It certainly did that. Perhaps combined with the 1-0 lead that Kiel held going into the second leg, a new reinvigorated Köln needed to be seen if they were going to retain their top-flight status. The mindset of the visiting players was probably that they simply had to perform for 90 minutes, and then they could move on in August knowing that their relegation troubles would be behind them for at least another nine months. Whatever the rhyme or reason, it was a very different Köln side that turned up in a very different away leg.

The jubilance of the Kiel fans and the atmosphere that they created for the start of the game may have put off many travelling 2. Bundesliga sides. However, the experienced Köln players are used to having their backs against the wall in top-tier away matches, and although they have not had to recently due to Covid-19 restrictions on spectators in stadiums, their knowledge of playing in the likes of the Allianz Arena or Signal Iduna Park served them well here. Köln were obviously not as phased as the Holstein crowd would have wanted, and soon they found themselves silenced by an early away goal. After slugging away and fighting hard for a solitary goal lead from the first leg, Kiel saw all that hard work evaporate inside three minutes. A delicious Duda cross into the 18-yard box found the head of the Billy Goats’ captain Jonas Hector. The former Germany international has spent most of his career in a left full-back role and has featured for the national side on a number of occasions there, although he has also done a job in defensive midfield for his club side in the past. However, in Köln’s bid to stay up towards the end of this campaign, Hector has found himself pushed further up the park – sometimes in an attacking midfield role or even as a false number nine on the odd occasion. That is not he has not thrived under the new instruction, netting a handful of vital goals in recent weeks to help the team climb out of the automatic drop-zone, but none were quite as big as the one grabbed in the opening stages of this play-off second leg. Ondrej Duda’s delivery was spot on, but still there was a lot of work to do for Hector, however he managed to steer his header into the far top corner to hand his side the perfect start and they were back level on aggregate straight away.

However, they trailed again less than a minute later. In what would turn out to be a fantastically frantic opening to this return leg, Holstein Kiel sought an immediate response after going behind early in their own back yard. Almost from the restart, they went down the other end and a massive chance fell to the feet of Finn Porath following a cut back from Fabian Reese on the by-line. Porath’s shot was saved brilliantly by Timo Horn, but the keeper’s parry only looped up into the air and the quickest man to react to the loose ball was South Korean Lee Jae-sung. Lee sprung high and nodded an effort over Horn and the sprawling defenders into the back of the net for immediate parity in the game but restoring Kiel’s aggregate lead. The quick-thinking of Lee and knack for being in the right place at the right time were showcased again, and it is clear to see why so many clubs are keen to sign the 28-year-old midfielder. One major rumour is that Hamburg are currently front of the queue to secure his signature, as they believe he could provide the creativity they need to boost a return to the Bundesliga, but Lee may look to join a team already there and there would be a whole host of potential suitors.

That would be bad news for Kiel if arguably their top man left the club, however the more pressing issue for them in this game was the fight-back from their opponents. With just six minutes on the clock, another headed effort made the score line 2-1 and 2-2 on aggregate. This time, the finishing touch was supplied by a more typical source of aerial goals: big Köln striker Sebastian Andersson. The Swede has found his first season difficult since making a summer switch from Union Berlin, but his new fans did not care one bit as he glanced the ball past opposing goalkeeper Ioannis Gelios for a crucial rapid response to the Lee goal. However, Andersson owed much to the super service from Florian Kainz, whose wicked whipped cross was just begging to be nodded home and the Swedish number nine was happy to oblige.

After that crazy first half a dozen minutes, it looked as if the contest might continue a thrilling back and forth pattern, with both sides netting a plethora of goals. But Köln’s Bundesliga experience came to the fore when they managed to grab the goal to put them ahead in the tie for the first time. Andersson again it was causing havoc for the home defence and another aerial ball, this time from a corner was latched onto by the Scandinavian and diverted towards goal. Although, his effort was initially looked as if it would be stopped on the line by a combination of Gelios and Reese, but neither player could make a telling preventative touch and the ball squirmed past both and into the corner of the goal for a rather avoidable Köln third. That put the Billy Goats on their way. Now in front on aggregate, they never appeared likely to relinquish the advantage and Kiel did not really seem to know how to approach the remainder of the contest. Their game plan had gone out the window and the visitors were knocking in goals for fun, but now Holstein needed to get another themselves but pushing forward meant running the risk of conceding yet another. We still had played only 13 minutes.

It was not until another set-piece situation five minutes before half time that the play-off seemed to really have slipped away from Kiel. Up until that point, under a reinforced rear-guard, the visitors’ scoring had ceased and getting to the break might have allowed the hosts to regroup and figure out a way to find the goal they required. However, what they did not account for was a first-time bullet of a half-volley from central defender Rafael Czichos. After a failed wide free kick was recycled, a knock down from Jonas Hector found Czichos just inside the penalty box and he lashed a perfectly struck effort into the top corner, giving the man between the sticks no chance. Czichos actually joined his current side from Holstein Kiel, with whom he had a three-year spell from 2015 to 2018. However, it is fairly safe to suspect that his old fans did not remember him being able to strike a football quite like he did against them in this massive game. To their frustration, the wondergoal made the score line a seemingly unassailable 4-2 on aggregate now. It was only a two-goal lead, but the momentum was very much with Köln as the encounter reached its mid-way point.

Half time came and went but the pattern of the game did not. Köln kept pressing throughout the second period and Kiel struggled to make any decisive impact on the contest in terms of an offensive threat. However, they did hold out for the majority of the second half, but in the end the pressure from the visitors became too much and Tunisian Ellyes Skhiri was able to add a fifth goal. The home side would have been disappointed about the way in which they let in the final goal, after only really being broken down by some accurate crosses and a bolt from the blue from Rafael Czichos. It was four goals, but at least three were top Bundesliga quality. The fifth on the other hand, was poor from a defensive point of view, with Köln attackers afforded too much room and Skhiri in particular the freedom of the penalty area, making his task of slotting the ball home all the more simple.

5-2 it finished over the two legs and after a decent go at it, Holstein Kiel were defeated by a side who showed why they are the top-flight team. Kiel have had a great campaign nevertheless, with a cup semi-final and an almost promotion, but just missed out at the final hurdle. For Köln, they remain in the Bundesliga for at least another season. They bounced, straight back after their last relegation three years ago, but avoiding the drop this time around may just help them to reinvent themselves and try to remove their status as something of a yo-yo club. They know that next season will require more hard work and perhaps a summer re-build will be in order, but for now they can breathe a sigh of relief.