Köln Win the Derby; Leverkusen Are Left With Nothing

The ball came down in the Leverkusen area and Julian Leiding met it with a low volley. It skidded in. The Köln players turned towards their travelling support; the home crowd had seen enough to know how costly one touch could be.

Leiding struck in the 73rd minute, and the result extended Köln’s winning run in this fixture to three. They had won 1-0 at home on 1 December and 3-0 on 1 April 2061. Leverkusen’s last success is not in that recent sequence; their meeting of 19 April 2059 ended 1-1.

They had 54 per cent of possession, completed 549 passes and put four of six attempts on target, but none went in. One effort hit the woodwork. Köln, with less of the ball, made 11 attempts and forced four saves from Leverkusen’s goalkeeper. Their sharper threat was reflected in the clearest chances: one for Köln, none for the hosts.

Köln’s Hamza Azaz made four saves, while the visitors tightened their shape as the game went on. Leverkusen introduced Tion Greppmeir at half-time and sent on further replacements, but the score held.

That makes this more than another local defeat for Leverkusen. The club were 17th in the Bundesliga when Ben Zlatko Studtrucker was dismissed in March, with their survival fight unresolved. A derby loss adds no comfort to that task. Köln, meanwhile, leave with the points and another firm result in a fixture that has lately belonged to them.