Bayer Leverkusen boost European football hopes with Köln win

Köln started off the game strongly with chances from both Jakub Kaminski who hit the side netting and a shot from Said El Mala in the first ten minutes.

These troubled Leverkusen's keeper Janis Blaswich who joined last year from RB Leipzig and replaced Mark Flekken this game as Flekken played against Bayern in midweek in the DFB Pokal semi-final loss.

The first fifteen minutes provided a lot of action on both ends, with this time the away side Leverkusen making a late run to force a save from home keeper Marvin Schwäbe.

Köln continued to pile on a lot of pressure in the first half, with Said El  Mala practically having an open goal but despite this he manages to hit the post in the 36th minute after a Quansah error from Leverkusen. 

However, in the 41st minute Leverkusen were given a penalty and Patrick Schick converted the penalty after a handball from Köln's Martel to put it 1-0 to the hosts.

Overall, the first half was seemingly quite level but only the away side were able to take their chances with this being from the spot in a disputed penalty handball.

Köln's Jóhanesson received his fifth yellow card of the season in added time of the first half so he will miss the game against Union Berlin next week.

After the half, Patrick Schick doubled the score for the away side as he slotted in a shot following a Nathan Tella assist.

In the 60th minute, Jan Thielmann came in for the hosts alongside Alessio Castro-Montes to try and grab something from the tie. For the away side, it was Malik Tillman who came on.

During the 79th minute, Luca Waldschmidt grabbed a goal back for Köln to try and get them back into the game and he made the score 2-1. 

However, Leverkusen held onto the game despite a lot of nerves to move into 5th place.