El Mala’s solo strike wins it for Köln in Hoffenheim

Köln ended their three-match winless run against Hoffenheim, who will now have to deal with a similar problem away at St. Pauli.

Christian Ilzer and Lukas Kwasniok planned to go into the second international break of the season with a win. Both Hoffenheim and Köln enjoyed successful starts to the campaign, but they struggled in recent weeks.

As such, fresh blood was needed in their respective lineups. Kwasniok did exactly that by giving the 19-year-old Said El Mala his first league start. The star of the recent Euro U19 tournament takes matters into his own feet when he evades a couple of challenges to score a brilliant goal in the 16th minute.

El Mala started his solo run after Eric Martel dispossessed Wouter Burger in the middle of the pitch. On either side of the goal, Marvin Schwäbe made a couple of fine saves from Muhammed Damar and Bazoumana Touré.

Hoffenheim had three of their players cautioned in the first-half before a late incident added two yellow cards directed at their managerial staff, including one for the assistant coach Moritz Volz. Martel’s block from a ferocious shot by Toure initially resulted in a penalty-kick decision by Felix Zwayer before VAR intervened.

The referee decided it wasn’t a clear handball after viewing the footage himself on the monitor. Surprisingly, it was Kwasniok who made the only substitution for the restart as Ragnar Ache replaced Jan Thielmann.

Hoffenheim’s own 19-year-old attacker, Toure, continued to pose a threat as Joël Schmied had to make a highlight-worthy block to deny the youngster early in the second-half. Tim Lemperle had a quiet night against his old club before he and fellow new signing Leon Avdullahu made way for the long-serving duo Grisha Promel and Ilhas Bebou with 25 minutes left on the clock.

El Mala and Jakub Kaminski came close to doubling Köln’s lead in the next five minutes. Ilzer’s next changes saw Max Moerstedt and Andrej Kramaric enter the scene to strengthen Hoffenheim’s attacking line.

The hosts dominated play in the final ten minutes, but they failed to test Köln’s captain in any way. Bebou nearly getting to the end of Vladimír Coufal’s low cross was their best chance in the later stages. Coufal was also involved in the last action of the game, but Toure missed the target with his header.

The visitors ended their three-game winless run, while Hoffenheim now enter similar territory after back-to-back home defeats. Ilzer’s team will travel to St. Pauli after the international break. Köln will be at home against struggling FC Augsburg.