The RheinEnergieStadion was treated to some wonderful weather and exciting football on Saturday afternoon, as Wolfsburg and Köln played out a thrilling two-all draw.
For Köln, they safe even before defeat to Mainz last Saturday. Peter Stöger's side had little else to play for, other than pride, so he made six changes. Timo Horn, Kevin Wimmer, Dusan Svento, Matthias Lehmann, Yannick Gerhardt and Anthony Ujah replaced Tomas Kessler, Mergim Mavraj, Jonas Hector, Adam Matuschyk, Kevin Vogt and Bard Finne in the starting eleven, as the Billy Goats aimed to end the season on a high.
It was largely a similar scenario for Wolfsburg, although they were keen to cement second place after a fantastic season on all fronts. Dieter Hecking was forced into three changes as key players, Diego Benaglo, Naldo and Ricardo Rodriguez were all injured. Max Grün, Robin Knoche and Marcel Schäfer all earned a starting berth, while Luiz Gustavo and Vieirinha replaced Joshua Guilavogui and Sebastian Jung (benched) in two further changes.
The beginning of the game was quite incredible. Yuya Osako had the hosts ahead inside three minutes, taking the very first chance of the game. Marcel Risse's second attempt at playing the Japanese forward through was inch-perfect, and Osako made no mistake with a calm finish past Grün.
Köln's joy was short lived and Wolfsburg were level soon after. A corner bobbled in and around the box, but the home side couldn't force the ball clear and it eventually arrived with Luiz Gustavo at the back post. The Brazilian poked it past a helpless Horn, with their lead lasting all of five minutes.
Things were to get even worse for Stöger's men, who had crumbled after opening the scoring. Dominic Maroh made a terrible pass out from the back, sending the ball straight to Daniel Caliguri's feet. He drove towards the by-line and cut back to Ivan Perisic. The Croat came steaming in and rifled it into the bottom corner to complete an early comeback.
Ujah and co. did their utmost to try and force an immediate reply, but were being halted by a stubborn Wolfsburg defence. Risse's free-kick went narrowly wide and a few half chances weren't taken, in what was a breath-taking first half an hour.
Grün was called into action by Risse late on in the half, flicking away a fierce drive with his feet. At the other end, Gustavo very nearly headed in his second goal before half-time but narrowly missed the ball.
The second half started off much more slowly compared to the first, probably for the best after the heart-stopping opening forty-five. Slawomir Peszko came on and gave the home side an early lift, constantly giving Schäfer a headache with his direct running style. Grün was doing a fine job filling in for Benaglio and he was alert to Osako's run, cutting him off before he could get a shot away.
Pressure pilled onto the visiting defence and finally it told, with Peszko getting the goal his play deserved. Risse was once again the architect and his Polish team-mate flicked home his powerful cross from the edge of the six-yard box to restore parity.
Both teams almost snatched it late on but, given their respective dominance in each half, a draw was a fair result. Wolfsburg claimed a thoroughly well-deserved second place and have the DFB-Pokal Final to look forward to next week, while Köln's impressive return to the Bundesliga ended with a tenth-placed finish.