International El Mala settles the derby: Cologne beat Gladbach 2-1
Said El Mala secured victory for 1. FC Köln in the Rhine derby. The Germany international curled in the winner for 2-1 against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 67th minute.
Photo: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Video: YouTube · sportstudio fußball · youtube.com
Said El Mala decided the Rhine derby on Sunday. In front of around 50,000 spectators at the RheinEnergieStadion, the 1. FC Köln forward curled in the 2-1 winner against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 67th minute. Isak Johannesson had given Cologne the lead in the 26th minute before Joe Scally equalised for Gladbach in the 39th.
“I've never been so eager for a game,” El Mala said after the final whistle, according to SPOX. Gladbach's Robin Hack told DAZN: “Of course it's rubbish.” It was Alexander Blessin's first competitive game as Gladbach coach; Borussia are still without a point. The match was briefly interrupted because of pyrotechnics.
El Mala was part of head coach Jürgen Klopp's second squad for the Nations League games against Serbia and in Greece; in the 0-0 draw in Thessaloniki he came on in the 63rd minute. The video highlights come from the YouTube channel “sportstudio fußball” (ZDF).