Already without Timo Hübers , Joël Schmied , and Luca Kilian , 1. FC Köln have lost another important actor in the central defensive corps. Veteran Dominique Heintz found himself unable to continue playing early on in Saturday's Bundesliga fixture against Werder Bremen . Heintz's day was limited to just 12 minutes. A Sunday morning MRI scan revealed a serious thigh injury that will likely keep Heintz out for the duration of the 2025 calendar year.
Köln head coach Lukas Kwasniok opted to field a back-three consisting of Heintz, Cenk Özkacar, and wingback Sebastian Sebulonsen on Saturday. After Rav van den Berg replaced Heintz on a like-for-like substitution early on, Kwasniok re-formatted to a back-four after bringing on Kristoffer Lund to serve as the left fullback at the half. Neither arrangement worked particularly well in a match Köln were lucky to draw 1-1.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Kwasniok himself thought the improvised back four bracketed by Lund and wide-man Jan Thielmann with van den Berg and Sebulonsen performed well enough. The 44-year-old nevertheless expressed frustration with his current personnel situation at the back and noted that he would endeavor to come up with a better solution ahead of next week's Bundesliga match-up against St. Pauli .
" It feels like all our centre-backs are out, it's like we're cursed ," Kwasniok said. " But I thought Seb [Sebulonsen] did well in his new position, first in the back three, then in the back four. I really liked van den Berg and Sebulonsen, with Jan Thielmann extremely active. Lund was also fully there, apart from [a poor] back pass. "
" We're once again put in this position of having to find solutions for the problem once again, " Kwasniok still added with an air of frustration. " It happens. Unfortunately, that's part of football. "
