One start and two substitute appearances in, and he is already being lauded as Der Zauberzwerg – the magic dwarf – for FC Köln. Vincent Koziello was one of the most wrong-footing signings of the Bundesliga’s winter window, a player heavily linked with Arsenal and even Barcelona in the past, a mini-Xavi cutting a swathe on the Côte d’Azur before arriving at the bottom club.
He has, however, had to bide his time. “Vincent arrived just after we won against Gladbach,” coach Stefan Ruthenbeck recalled last week. “He hadn’t been playing much in Nice. We didn’t have any friendlies to integrate him. That’s why I said right away that we’ll bring him in when the time is right. That could be against Leipzig at the weekend.”
How right he was. Koziello had impressed in a 20-minute substitute cameo against Hannover the week before, coinciding with the team’s best spell which narrowly, agonisingly failed to yield a win. His first start for Köln, in Sunday’s game at Leipzig, will live long in the memory. With his side trailing in the second half, Koziello collected the ball on the edge of the area, brought it inside on to his less favoured left foot and smashed a shot past Peter Gulacsi.
The 22-year-old midfielder is not famed for his goalscoring and seemed as surprised as anyone, with the way his attempted knee slide turned into a hop, trip and a flop, underlining just how unprepared he was for such a moment. The goal, though, could turn out to be among the most significant of Köln’s season.
It was the perfect way to herald their surge back to life, an unlikely goal and scorer pointing the way to an improbable comeback. At 7pm local time, Köln looked all but down, obligingly fitting into the story that this would be the weekend two giants in they and never-relegated Hamburg (who lost the Nordderby at Bremen) finally lost their faint grip on top-flight status.
Leonardo Bittencourt, who drove in the winner after Marcel Risse’s excellent run, summed it up when he said “we were lucky that Leipzig weren’t two or 3-0 up”, a sentiment echoed by Köln’s sporting director, Armin Veh. “If Leipzig had been 3-0 up at half-time, that would have been fair enough,” admitted Veh. “We speculated that Leipzig might get tired,” continued Bittencourt, and he was spot on, with their desperate rearguard action to keep Napoli at bay in the Europa League on Thursday visibly taking its toll.
Coach Ralph Hasenhüttl wasn’t having that as an excuse, though. “If you don’t finish the game, then the opposition gets braver,” he lamented. “We didn’t do anything in the second half. The workload of the last few days was certainly a factor, but in the first half everything had been so easy. If you close the game out then you can take your foot off the gas.”
Some neutrals will have sympathy for Leipzig’s situation. Few teams wear you down like Maurizio Sarri’s team with the bit between their teeth, but Köln needed no second invite to take advantage. Their reaction and resolve was an extraordinary sight; not just because of the contrast it provided from their wan showing in the first 45 minutes, but because it came at the end of a week in which cracks had begun to appear on the facade of their increasingly vain-looking survival efforts.
The days leading up to the trip east had been marked by Veh’s disarmingly candid comments about his relationship with Ruthenbeck, with the sporting director blurting out in a press conference that he “almost never agrees” with the head coach’s picks and tactics.
The last sporting director to reveal such a gulf in philosophy between himself and his coach was Stuttgart’s Michael Reschke – and despite him saying that it wasn’t a problem, the well-regarded Hannes Wolf was ditched shortly after.
Veh needs to tread more carefully than the average sporting director. This is his first runout in the job, and he’s got a long history as a coach. Had Köln appointed him in Peter Stöger’s stead when the Austrian was removed some fans would have been nonplussed, but few in the footballing community would have so much as batted an eyelid. As sporting director, it appears like he’s waiting to step in if and when Ruthenbeck comes unstuck. Perception may not always be reality, but confidence is a fragile and valuable commodity in a relegation battle.
Ruthenbeck now has every right to feel vindicated. It was his choice to hold back Koziello, and his stated belief in the days leading up to the Leipzig game that this was the right time to let him loose. “I expect to face a team that presses well,” he had said, “and it will be important for us to find a way to free ourselves from that.” Koziello’s movement and ability to hold the ball was as much a contributory factor to his side’s win as his goal was.
Köln will need more of that. “We lose the ball too often and then spend time running after it,” Veh had complained. “It takes up a lot of energy.” Due in part to their French midfielder’s poised, simple game, they had enough left in the tank to see out a notable exploit on Sunday.
Those weeks on tenterhooks waiting for his chance have not been wasted. Koziello and his girlfriend Aline have been exploring the city, becoming familiar with its sights and ingratiating themselves with the locals. One of Cologne’s key features, of course, is February’s Karneval. If Effzeh can pull off an epochal comeback, Koziello and company might get to enjoy it all over again.
Talking points
• Köln are now level with Hamburg at the bottom after the latter’s defeat at Werder Bremen, sealed by a scruffy late winner that was put in his own net by Rick van Drongelen, though Werder sub Ishak Belfodil – who HSV coach Bernd Hollerbach argued had fouled his defender – thought “we hit it at the same time”. It was enough for Weser Kurier to call him “half a derby hero”. It was a tense occasion, with police using pepper spray and a water cannon to quell trouble between rival fans after.
• Bayern Munich surprisingly dropped points, held by Hertha Berlin for the Allianz Arena’s first goalless game in six years. After Arjen Robben’s strop at not starting against Besiktas, he and Franck Ribéry returned to the XI but failed to find the cutting edge, further stoking thoughts of whether Bayern might move on when their contracts run out at the season’s end.
• Gulp!
• Goal of the weekend has to go to Guido Burgstaller after his sensational opener for Schalke as they won battle of the Champions League chasers at Leverkusen. Dortmund face Augsburg, and it will be interesting to see the Yellow Wall’s reaction to Monday night football after the tennis ball protests in Frankfurt last week.
Mainz 1-1 Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim 1-1 Freiburg, Stuttgart 1-0 Eintracht, Hannover 96 0-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayern Munich 0-0 Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen 1-0 Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen 0-2 Schalke, RB Leipzig 1-2 Köln. Monday fixture: Borussia Dortmund v Augsburg
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 24 | 37 | 60 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 23 | 19 | 40 |
| 3 | Schalke 04 | 24 | 8 | 40 |
| 4 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 24 | 5 | 39 |
| 5 | Bayer Leverkusen | 24 | 11 | 38 |
| 6 | RB Leipzig | 24 | 4 | 38 |
| 7 | Borussia M'gladbach | 24 | -4 | 34 |
| 8 | TSG Hoffenheim | 24 | 0 | 32 |
| 9 | Hannover 96 | 24 | -2 | 32 |
| 10 | Augsburg | 23 | 3 | 31 |
| 11 | Hertha Berlin | 24 | 0 | 31 |
| 12 | VfB Stuttgart | 24 | -7 | 30 |
| 13 | SC Freiburg | 24 | -13 | 29 |
| 14 | Werder Bremen | 24 | -6 | 26 |
| 15 | Wolfsburg | 24 | -4 | 25 |
| 16 | Mainz | 24 | -13 | 24 |
| 17 | Hamburg | 24 | -17 | 17 |
| 18 | Cologne | 24 | -21 | 17 |
