Bayer Leverkusen did win 2-1 against 1. FC Cologne, but they allowed many chances to the opposition and were not satisfied with themselves either. Coach Kasper Hjulmand also saw a problem with the pitch.
"Today we are very happy with the three points, but not with our performance. We absolutely have to play better against Leipzig next week. This is not good enough," he initially summed up the match, according to 'kicker'.
The "pitch without water" had disrupted Leverkusen's passing game. The Dane even suspected intent on Cologne's part: "That is what we experienced and what the players said."
So did Effzeh fail to water the pitch sufficiently in order to gain an advantage? Cologne coach René Wagner strongly denied it: "If you say the pitch wasn't wet, then that's not true," he said. "We didn't do that intentionally. And if it came across that way, we apologize, but that was not the case."
Hjulmand accepted that, but stuck to his assessment of the poor playing conditions: "Whatever it was in the end, it was dry. So it wasn't because you didn't water it."
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
