The dream of Berlin begins again for Steffen Baumgart (51) and 1. FC Köln!
After the bitter penalty knockout last year at SV Jahn Regensburg, the FC coach wants to prevent another cup break in the first round with all his might on Monday at VfL Osnabrück (8.45 p.m., ARD and in the live ticker on EXPRESS.de). . But the task is more than tricky, the second division promoted was one of the hardest lots in the pot.
1. FC Köln struggles against underdogs in the cup
Especially since FC traditionally has a hard time against supposed underdogs. No team in the history of the DFB Cup has been eliminated as a Bundesliga club by a non-Bundesliga team more often. There have already been 21 defeats against a lower-class team.
“The Bremer Bridge is always explosive. The atmosphere will be very heated. It is not for nothing that one or the other favorite has already fallen on his face there. It’s going to be a cup fight. I don’t need to say anything about the goal. We’re going there to get to the next round,” says Baumgart before the floodlit game.
FC want to live up to their status as favorites and, after convincing preparations, are going to Lower Saxony with confidence. Above all, the last two test appearances against Nantes (2-0) and Ajax Amsterdam II (3-1) make Baumgart confident that the cup trip this year will go beyond the first round.
“A lot of what we have worked hard for over the past two years works on the pitch. We’ve had opportunities to do that, with Leart Pacarada and Luca Waldschmidt, to name two examples. That’s what makes you optimistic,” says Baumgart: “In other words: you have to beat us first!”
For Baumgart, getting ahead would also be a personal satisfaction. In 2017 he was relegated after a 0-0 draw with his former club Paderborn in Osnabrück and apparently received malice from the Osnabrück audience.
Baumgart still remembers “the scorn and mockery that we had to experience in this stadium.” That’s why this game “always has a special meaning” for him. On Monday he can now take revenge for the shame from back then.
2023-08-14 05:58:30
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