Cologne and Dortmund share the spoils

Cologne 1-1 Dortmund
Goals: 0-1 Wolf 8' (assist: Bellingham), 1-1 Andersson 36' (assist: Modeste)

Supporters have come to expect goals when these two teams meet at the RheinEnergieStadion, with 36 scored in nine previous meetings at Cologne's impressive stadium prior to this encounter. The 50,000 capacity crowd were not long waiting for the opener, although the majority were hardly content when it went the way of the visitors. Dortmund's hero in their Matchday 26 win at home to Arminia Bielefeld, Wolf was on target for a third time in five games, the midfielder getting onto the end of Jude Bellingham's diagonal assist before applying a left-footed finish. The Billy Goats are enjoying a phenomenal campaign under coach Steffen Baumgart this season and with a chance of a top four finish still within their grasp, the hosts were never going to lay down for the division's second-placed side. The team's top-scorer, Anthony Modeste, couldn't quite make it to Mark Uth's centre, but the French striker did manage to reach Jannes Horn's cross from the left, flicking on for Andersson to volley in from close range at the far post.

Making his first start since 22 January, Erling Haaland looked to get back into goalscoring mode - the forward having impressively scored 16 times in an injury disrupted campaign. Gio Reyna sought out, and successfully found, his attacking teammate in the 56th minute but the Norwegian failed to beat Marvin Schwäbe. Substitute Mats Hummels then glanced a Reyna free-kick wide of the upright and the defender was again in the thick of it at the other end soon afterwards, deflecting a dangerous Ondrej Duda drive away from the target. Knowing leaders Bayern Munich had increased their Bundesliga lead to seven points on Saturday, the urgency of a victory began to weigh heavily on the minds of Dortmund's XI. A Reyna breakaway late on promised so much, but as the 19-year-old assessed his many options inside the Cologne area, his eventual pass was snuffed out, and with it went the Black-and-Yellows' hopes of gaining maximum returns, the gap at the top to Bayern reduced to six points instead of four. For Cologne, a shot at a European finish remains very much in sight.

• Wolf has scored all three of his Bundesliga goals this season and in the last five matches. Last season, he only managed two goals in the entire campaign while on loan at Cologne.
• Andersson has scored five of his six Cologne goals at home.
• The Swede has netted the same amount of times (three) this season as in the entire 2020/21 campaign.
• Bellingham and Marco Reus are BVB's top assist providers with seven each so far this season.
• The Billy Goats are yet to win or concede a penalty in 27 matches in 2021/22.
• Haaland has 16 goals in 17 Bundesliga games this season, and four in four meetings with Cologne.

Watch: Reyna: "We deserved another goal or two"

Cologne: Schwäbe - Schmitz (Ehizibue 10'), Kilian, Hübers, J. Horn - Özcan - Schaub (Thielmann 68'), Duda, Uth (Ostrak 84')- Modeste, Andersson (Olesen 84')
Unused subs: T. Horn, Köbbing, Arrey-Mbi, Chabot, Hauptmann
Out: Hector (not included), Kainz (not included), Lemperle (ill), Ljubicic (ill), Schindler (personal reasons), Skhiri (thigh)
Coach: Steffen Baumgart

Dortmund: Kobel - Passlack (Hummels 46'), Can, Akanji, Guerreiro (Brandt 66') - Bellingham, Witsel (c), Reyna - Wolf (Pongracic 87'), Haaland (Reinier 87'), Hazard (Malen 81')
Unused subs: Hitz, Zagadou, Papadopoulos
Out: Dahoud (suspended), Meunier (muscular), Morey (knee), Moukoko (hamstring), Reus (ill), Schmelzer (knee), Schulz (muscular), Tigges (ankle)
Coach: Marco Rose