Germany star Lukas Podolski hit his 14th league goal of the season on Tuesday to seal Cologne’s 1-1 draw with FSV Mainz 05 in a replayed Bundesliga match to warm up for their trip to Bayern Munich.
Cologne’s last league game of the year is in Munich tomorrow against the league leaders in a match that gives Podolski the chance to go up against his former club, where he spent three unfruitful years before returning to Cologne in 2009.
There has been a storm of interest around Podolski in the German media ever since Schalke 04 revealed their interest in signing him on Saturday, but the German hot-shot has a contract with the Rhineland club until 2013.
Photo: Reuters
The 26-year-old justified the fuss to equalize against Mainz with a crisp 86th-minute strike to claim his 10th goal in his last eight league games, with the draw leaving Cologne 10th in the league.
“Mainz were clearly the better team and deserved to win, luckily for us I managed to score after all,” Podolski said. “The point we got was sheer luck.”
On Sunday, Podolski took a swipe at Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp, who criticized him for a lack of consistency, but the striker said the banter between the pair had been blown out of proportion.
“No, he hasn’t apologized, I don’t even know if he has my number, otherwise I bet he would have,” Podolski said. “We like each other and this has been played up by the media.”
The original Cologne-Mainz match was canceled on Nov. 19 following the attempted suicide of referee Babak Rafati in his hotel room just hours before kickoff.
While much of the pre-match interest surrounded Podolski, the Cologne star struggled to finish his opportunities with clear chances either side of the break, which kept Mainz goalkeeper Christian Wetklo busy.
Both teams showed why they are in the middle of the table without a clear shot on goal in the first 35 minutes.
The opener came on 70 minutes when Tunisia striker Sami Allagui headed home to break his eighth-match drought for Mainz.
However, Podolski put his side level with a trademark goal from just outside the penalty area when midfielder Mato Jajalo slipped a pass to him and he blasted home his shot, which slammed off the right post and gave Wetklo no chance.
The draw leaves Mainz 12th in the table as they face fourth-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday in their last league game before the winter break.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
RSS