Borussia M’gladbach vs. 1. FC Köln

Under normal circumstances, the Rhineland Derby.

While Gladbach have been impressing in the #UCL under Marco Rose, Cologne are struggling down the bottom of the #Bundesliga. Again.

And the build-up to today’s game has been typically chaotic:

On Monday, Cologne announced the appointment of a new director of communications, a certain Fritz Esser.

The appointment sparked massive online protests from Cologne fans, especially from among the active, hardcore support ...

#effzeh

It emerged that Herr Esser, an ex-journalist with tabloid BILD, had insulted Cologne supporters in tweets and articles, labelling them “idiots,” and had also praised a speech by a far-right AfD politician in parliament - behaviour considered incompatible with the club’s charter.

As well as several active fan groups and fanzines, prominent Cologne fans and local politicians also criticised the appointment.

A petition for Esser’s removal attracted 6,600 signatures, and club legend Lukas Podolski also tweeted his displeasure. https://twitter.com/podolski10/status/1356863642583650306

On Wed, the club u-turned on Esser’s appointment, admitting that “errors had been made in the selection process.”

Esser said he had been “unfairly attacked as a Nazi and AfD sympathiser” and insisted that he “fundamentally supports democracy” and “rejects all extremist parties.”

That night, Cologne were knocked out of the #DFBPokal by second-division Jahn Regensburg on penalties, despite having led 2-0.

#effzeh https://twitter.com/matt_4d/status/1357094775053299712

At training ahead of Saturday’s game against Gladbach, a banner at Cologne’s training ground demanded:

“F*** the cup! Beat Gladbach - stay up!”

#bmgkoe #effzeh

On Friday evening, 50-60 Cologne ultras saw their team off with a long-planned motivational pyro show.

However, a video emerged from within the team bus in which midfielder Dominick Drexler can be heard calling the ultras “idiots.”

@1948Noah

The comments obviously were not well-received, and Lukas Podolski again spoke up, tweeting:

“Unbelievable. Whoever calls their own fans idiots doesn’t deserve to wear that shirt.”

#effzeh https://twitter.com/podolski10/status/1358053735948296192

While goalkeeper Timo Horn reportedly texted fans to apologise, Drexler said in a statement via the club: “I grew up an FC fan and used to stand on the terraces myself ... I know how insulting my comments were and I apologise unreservedly.”

#effzeh

And what about Gladbach? Sporting director Max Eberl has just returned from a month off - taken because things are going so well. There’s even sympathy for Köln:

“We want more derbies in future. So we want to beat them, but then cross our fingers and hope that they stay up.”