In a hard fought clash, the two sides failed to convert their chances. 

The first half brought little excitement in this crucial match for Markus Weinzerl’s Augsburg. But it was visitors Köln who had the first chance of the game, Matthias Lehmann got the ball onto his right foot but his shot was very optimistic coming from thirty-five yards out, his effort was no concern of Marwin Hitz who happily saw his shot go high and wide.

But at the other end moments later, Alexander Esswein tried bending his shot into the near post but Timo Horn had it covered and his shot nestled into the side-netting.

Before the twenty-minute mark, it was Köln’s turn to put the Augsburg goal under pressure, Kevin Vogt met Anthony Ujah’s corner but he failed to connect with the delivery and sliced his header wide.

Then a ten-minute flurry of Augsburg chances came for the hosts. The first of the chances came from Raul Bobadilla, he cut inside onto his right foot and unleashed a thunderous strike, his shot look destined for the top right corner but Timo Horn denied him fantastically.

Bobadilla turned provider this time, his cross-field ball landed straight at Tobias Werner’s feet, he cut inside but he sliced his shot but he could only smash his shot way over the bar. The half ended on Abdul Baba’s audacious attempt being blocked at the edge of the Köln box. Peter Stöger’s side were holding on by the skin of their teeth at the end of the first half.

The second half started very slowly, it took till the sixty-seventh minute for the first real chance of the second half. It through Paul Verhaegh who found himself in a very unusual position of the pitch, the 31-year-old Dutchmen tried catching Horn off-guard but he failed to get it on target.

With twenty-minutes to play, the best chance of game came for Augsburg and it fell to Jeong-Ho hong who failed to connect with his header and scraped his header wide evading the players behind him.  With eight minutes remaining, it was just masses of pressure from the hosts, Pierre Emile Højbjerg’s initial shot was blocked but he then delivered to Jeong-Ho Hong, who headed again, this time it was on target but his headed effort was tremendously saved by Timo Horn who had to tip over the bar.

Köln piled on the pressure with an incisive counter attack, Yuya Osako set through Kevin Vogt, he jinked inside and outside, firing towards the near post but Marwin Hitz was alert and kept out the only save he had to make in the match. In the dying moments of the game, Abdul Baba cynically brought down Kazuki Nagasawa. Marcel Risse stepped up to the free kick, he tried picking out the top corner but failed to keep his effort down, bringing a poor game to a relieving end