1. FC Köln ended their pre-season with a 2:0 victory against FC Nantes in RheinEnergieSTADION on Saturday evening. Luca Waldschmidt and Sargis Adamyan were on the scoresheet in the win.

The opening stages of the match saw FC go close through Benno Schmitz, as his half-volley screamed past the post from 20 yards. Nantes were dangerous on the counter, with the superb Jeff Chabot and Marvin Schwäbe making the difference against opportunities for Ignatius Ganago and Florent Mollet.

Steffen Baumgart’s side thought they had taken the lead after 20 minutes only to see Davie Selke’s side-footed finish ruled out for offside. Dejan Ljubicic and Leart Pacarada both had to be brought off after picking up knocks following two hefty challenges from Nantes, in what were the main talking points at the break.

Better after the break

FC finally took a deserved lead after 51 minutes. Denis Huseinbasic managed to tee up Luca Waldschmidt and fired home from close range, leaving Alban Lafont no chance from six yards. Moments later, Lafont made a stunning stop to deny Waldschmidt his second after good play in the build-up from Davie Selke.

The second followed in the 64th minute. A Kristian Pedersen cross was missed by everyone waiting in the area apart from Sargis Adamyan, who slid into an empty net at the back post. The remainder of the game saw FC continue to have the better of the play, but no further goals fell.
FC’s return to competitive action will be on Monday 14th August against VfL Osnabrück in the DFB-Pokal. Kick-off at the Bremer Brücke is at 20:45 CEST.

Line-ups

1. FC Köln (4-1-3-2): Schwäbe – Schmitz (Carstensen 62‘), Hübers (Kilian 75‘), Chabot (Soldo 87‘), Pacarada (Pedersen 35‘, Wäschenbach 87‘) – Martel (Olesen 75‘) – Ljubicic (Adamyan 31‘, Schmid 87‘), Kainz (Christensen 75‘), Huseinbasic (Uth 62‘) – Waldschmidt (Finkgräfe 75‘), Selke (Limnios 75‘).

FC Nantes (4-3-3): Lafont – Centonze (Pierre-Gabriel 85’), M’Bemba (Junior Diaz 88‘), Pallois (Zeze 88‘), Hadjam- (Meupiyou 85’) – Mollet (12), Chirivella (Sissoko 85’), Moutoussamy (Diack 71’) – Coco (Appuah 60’), Ganago (Simon 62’), Merlin (Mohamed 76’). 

Goals: 1:0, Waldschmidt 51‘. 2:0, Adamyan 64‘.

Referee: Timo Gansloweit.

Booked: Centonze (9’), Moutoussamy (24’), Huseinbasic (53’).

Attendance: 32,400.