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FC Koln – Hoffenheim (Bundesliga)

The opening game of Bundesliga’s 30th round will take place this Friday night at RheinEnergieStadion, in Cologne, with FC Koln hosting TSG Hoffenheim. Since the beginning of February that FC Koln suffered a loss of performance, with a huge loss of points and an irregular form leaving the team out of European spots. Hoffenheim, on the other hand, recovered perfectly from the loss at the hands of Hamburg and won the last round of the championship, where they hosted Borussia M’Gladbach in what not only was an exciting game, but also a goal festival.

FC Koln sits 7th place at the Bundesliga table with 40 points, which comes from 10 wins, 10 draws and 9 defeat, with 42 goals scored and 36 conceded in the process. After a good start of the season where they showed regularity during great part of the first round of the Bundesliga campaign, FC Koln ended up suffering a loss of performance, since middle of February, and won only 2 games since then, which means a huge loss of points that, consequently, threw the team out of European spots. Now, with the team just 1 point below 6th place, which guarantees access to the 3rd preliminary round of Europa League, The Billy Goats need to regain the consistency they once shown at the start of the campaign and become, once again, an almost unbeatable team at home soil as they once were. This season, FC Koln has only lost two home games for Bundesliga, with both defeats being conceded in the last 4 matches at RheinEnergieStadion. Recently, this team led by Peter Stoger, have shown some defensive difficulties, specially at defending set pieces, but also show a good offensive moment, specially at counter-attacks. Anthony Modeste is the team’s principal offensive reference, being the 3rd top scorer in the league with 23 goals scored, scoring more than half of FC Koln’s goals.

In their last 5 official games, FC Koln shows a 2 victory and 3 defeats record. This sequence of results began with 4-2 home win over Hertha Berlin. This victory was followed by a 2-1 away defeat at Hamburg’s home soil, a 1-0 home win against Frankfurt, a 2-3 home loss at the hands of Borussia M’Gladbach, and in their last clash, a 2-1 defeat at FC Augsburg’s home soil. Marcelo Risse, Guirassy and Zoller are all out due to injury.

Probable Lineup: Horn – Olkowski, Subotic, Heintz and Hector – Hoger, Lehmann, Bittencourt and Clemens – Osako and Modeste.

Hoffenheim, on the other hand, sits 3rd place at the Bundesliga table with 54 points, which comes from 14 wins, 12 draws and 3 defeats, with 56 goals scored and 31 conceded. After being defeated at Hamburg’s home soil in the last but one round of the championship, Hoffenheim won at home ground against Borussia M’Gladbach, in the last round, and added more 3 points to their tally after what was an exciting game from the first to the last minuto, with both teams always with eyes on the opponents goal. With only one defeat in their last 9 consecutive Bundesliga’s matches, Hoffe sit on the 3rd spot of the table, which guarantees direct access to the Champions League. However, Borussia Dortmund are only 1 point behind Hoffenheim’s tail, which makes every single poiny indispensable in this final stretch of the season.

Yet, away from home hasn’t been the best part of Hoffenheim season, since it is as visitor that they have suffered their 3 defeats, all conceded in their last 6 consecutive away games. Led by Julian Nagelsmann, this is a very well organized team, but needs to be more versatile in their build-up against well-organised sides. Attacking down the wings, attacking set pieces, creating long shot opportunities and creating chances through individual skill are some of their strong points. Kramaric and Sandro Wagner are the team’s top scorers, with 12 and 11 goals scored each other, respectively.

In their last 5 official games, Hoffenheim shows a 4 victory and 1 defeat record. This sequence of results began with a 1-0 home win against Bayer Leverkusen. This victory was followed by a 1-3 win at Hertha Berlin’s home soil, a 1-0 home win over Bayer Munich, a 2-1 away defeat against Hamburg, and in their last clash, a 5-3 home win over Borussia M’Gladbach. Benjamin Hubner is out due to suspension.

Probable Lineup: Baumann – Sule, Vogt and Bicakcic – Amiri, Rudy, Demirbay, Toljan and Zuber – Wagner and Kramaric.

FC Koln have won 3 of their last 8 clashes, drawing 3 and losing the remaining 2.

FC Koln are a strong side playing at home soil and will do their utmost to protect their territory and return to the European spots. However, on the other side of the field is a well organized and offensively dangerous Hoffenheim, who also wants to protect their 3rd spot. That said, we expect another intense game with several goalscoring chances for both sides, with both times might being able to get on the scoresheet.