KIEL: Cologne kept their place in the Bundesliga on Saturday after recovering from a first-leg setback to beat second-division Holstein Kiel 5-2 on aggregate in the promotion-relegation playoff.

Kiel won the first leg 1-0 on Wednesday as they bid to reach Germany’s top tier for the first time. But they were in trouble almost immediately in a frantic opening to Saturday’s second leg, with three headed goals in the first six minutes, on Cologne’s way to winning the second game 5-1.

Jonas Hector pulled Cologne level overall in the third minute with a looping header off Ondrej Duda’s cross, but Kiel hit back 64 seconds later with Lee Jae-Sung’s header on the rebound after a counterattack. That restored a 2-1 aggregate lead for the second-tier team, until Sebastian Andersson headed Cologne back in front two minutes after. At 2-2 Cologne had the advantage on away goals.

From there on it was all Cologne as Andersson scored yet another header in the 13th and Rafael Czichos blasted a rebound into the top corner to make it 4-1 on the day. Ellyes Skhiri scored the fifth late on.

German media estimated that relegation would have cost Cologne more than 25 million euros in income from broadcasting rights. They would have been the third iconic German club to go down this year after Werder Bremen and Schalke 04.

Cologne fired coach Markus Gisdol with six games remaining of the league season and hired the 67-year-old Friedhelm Funkel, a veteran specialist at relegation battles. His team won three of the next six to make the playoffs. Funkel’s job was only ever an interim appointment and he will be replaced by Steffen Baumgart for next season.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2021