Köln's Wagner defends Leverkusen pitch complaints

After the 2-1 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen,1. FC Köln boss René Wagner defended the home side's pitch conditions in a reply to away coach Kasper Hjulmand.

(Photo by Pau Barrena/Getty Images)

Two Patrick Schick goals either side of half time were enough to sink Köln at home into losing their streak of five consecutive unbeaten games in the Bundesliga.

The away side, Bayer Leverkusen were met evenly throughout most of the game by Köln who brought a goal back in the second half through Luca Waldschmidt.

However, chances left meant that Köln couldn't win to move into likely safety and another Bundesliga season with Bayer 04 moving into the top five with the precaution of being surpassed by Hoffenheim after their game against Hamburg.

After the tie, Bayer Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand said: “In the second half we were missing some energy."

He added: "It is a pitch without water and that also has something to do with this second half performance.”

Home coach for Köln, René Wagner, disputed this and said: “Can I say something about the pitch? If you say the pitch wasn't wet enough (too dry) and this is the case then we would apologise.”

He added: “But this (the pitch being dry) isn't the case. I want to make this clear that this wasn't the case. We didn't do this (on purpose), this is not something that is fair to do.”