VfB coach Bruno Labbadia made two changes to the eleven that began in last weekend’s 0-2 defeat in Bremen, with Christian Gentner getting the nod ahead of Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Cacau up front in place of Pavel Pogrebnyak. VfB dominated the early phases of the game, but it was Köln who were ironically to take the lead. Referee Dr. Felix Brych adjudged a seemingly harmless challenge from Maza on Slawomir Peszko to be a foul and awarded the visitors a rather cheap penalty, which Lukas Podolski duly converted. The FC lead appeared to encourage VfB all the more, with the home side continuing to press forward and create opening, which initially remained unrewarded.

VfB’s consistency was eventually to pay off in the 29th minute and Christian Gentner rose highest in the centre to head home from a well delivered corner and level the scores. Just seven minutes later, Gentner was perfectly placed again to take on a square pass from Hajnal and slam the ball low past the Köln keeper to put VfB in the driving seat. The home side took their 2-1 lead into the half time break.

Podolski levels

At the half time break, Khalid Boulahrouz was forced to remain in the changing rooms and was replaced by Arthur Boka on the right side of the back four. In was from VfB’s right side that the first chance of the second half was created by the guests, with Peszko getting a shot away from ten meters out, which took a deflection before Ulreich turned the ball around the post. Just beforehand, the VfB keeper had proven his abilities as a player, racing from his area to clear from Podolski.