Outstanding victory against Cologne

Personnel and tactics:

Head coach Sebastian Hoeness made three changes to his starting eleven from the 1-3 defeat at VfB Stuttgart. Stefan Posch, Florian Grillitsch and Kevin Akpoguma formed the back three in front of goalkeeper Oliver Baumann, with Pavel Kadeřábek and David Raum operating on the wings. Diadie Samassékou and Dennis Geiger started in the centre of the midfield, supporting the more attack-minded Christoph Baumgartner. Ihlas Bebou and Andrej Kramarić looked to cause trouble for the visitors’ defence up front.

Immediately after going 1-0 up, TSG were forced to make a change due to injury: Kadeřábek could not continue and was replaced by Chris Richards on 36 minutes. Akpoguma moved to the right and Richards took his place in central defence. Around 20 minutes before the final whistle, Sebastian Rudy and Georginio Rutter replaced the goalscorers Baumgartner and Bebou up front after 73 minutes. The last double change was made in the 81st minute, with Robert Skov and Jacob Bruun Larsen replacing Raum and Geiger.

Moment of the match:

The quick-fire double after the break: first, Ihlas Bebou scored with a back-heel in the 48th minute to make it 2-0 after some fantastic build-up play. Christoph Baumgartner then increased TSG's lead to 3-0 after an equally eye-catching string of passes. That effectively put the game to bed.

Number of the match: 7

The 5-0 victory was TSG's seventh win in a row against 1. FC Cologne – Hoffenheim's longest such run against any Bundesliga side.

Line-ups:

TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Posch, Grillitsch, Akpoguma – Kadeřábek (Richards, 36), Geiger (Bruun Larsen, 81), Samassékou, Raum (Skov, 81) – Baumgartner (Rudy, 73) – Bebou (Rutter, 73), Kramarić

1. FC Cologne: Horn – Schmitz, Meré (Kilian, 56), Czichos, Ehizibue (Katterbach, 75) – Özcan – Thielmann (Lemperle, 79), Kainz (Schaub, 56) – Uth – Modeste, Andersson (Duda, 56)

Goals: 1-0 Bebou (31), 2-0 Bebou (49), 3-0 Baumgartner (51), 4-0 Geiger (74), 5-0 Posch (87)

Match facts and statistics »