📸 Hits the post with an open goal! Has El Mala blown Köln’s survival? | OneFootball

Said El Mala is THE great hope for 1. FC Köln, who still need to keep picking up points to stay in the division. Against Leverkusen, things were actually looking very good at first, but then the match turned in a very nasty way.

Köln started well and applied pressure. Bayer’s Jarell Quansah seemed to be unsettled by it and played a catastrophic back pass to the goalkeeper. El Mala sprinted in between and got past Janis Blaswich with the ball. All that was left was the empty net, but the forward hit the post with the ball. Admittedly from a tight angle, but of course he still has to score that.

Much worse for Effzeh: shortly afterward, Leverkusen were awarded a controversial penalty at the other end. Martel had his arm completely tucked in when Palacios chipped the ball into the box. Martel moved his upper body toward the ball and it hit his arm. Despite fierce protests, the penalty was given.

Patrik Schick converted it to make it 1-0 for the Werkself. Instead of taking the lead, Köln had to go into halftime behind. At the start of the second half, things got even worse. After a Kaminski chance, Bayer broke on the counter and Tella crossed to Schick in the middle. The striker wasted no time and made it 2-0.

The three crucial points Köln had hoped for in their fight to stay up are now out of reach again for the time being.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Christof Koepsel - 2026 Getty Images