Cologne held by Rhine derby rivals Gladbach

Cologne 0-0 Gladbach

An incredible atmosphere welcomed the two Rhine rivals to the RheinEnergie Stadion on Sunday afternoon and the home support was almost treated to a goal inside the first two minutes but Jonas Omlin was alert to deny Davie Selke. Kingsley Schindler then fired over from close range, with Cologne looking most dangerous as the two teams looked for an early breakthrough. Florian Kainz was next to go close as his free-kick whistled just past the Gladbach post midway through the first half. Omlin was then at full stretch to first tip over Schindler's strike from the edge of the box and then deny Eric Martel's effort in similar circumstances as Cologne continued to turn the screw but without managing to open the scoring before half-time.

Gladbach came out fighting at the start of the second half, with Marcus Thuram finally finding a way into the game and almost feeding Florian Neuhaus an opener but the Germany international could only stab wide. The Foals' newfound adventure allowed the game to open up at both ends but the two teams struggled to carve out clear-cut chances in front of goal. And there would be no difference-maker by the full-time whistle, much to the disappointment of the two sets of supporters that craved local bragging rights so dearly. As a result, both teams had to settle for a point, one that maintains the four point gap between Cologne in 13th and Gladbach in 10th.

• This was just Cologne's fourth clean sheet at home in the Bundesliga this season.
• It was also the first goalless draw between these two teams since their 0-0 draw in Cologne on 21 September 2014.
• The Billy Goats have now gone six league games without a win (D1, L2).
• Gladbach are now five without a win in the top-flight (D3, L2).
• During that time, they have scored only two goals and failed to find the back of the net in four of their last five matches.
• Daniel Farke's side continue to struggle away from home and have won just once in 13 attempts on their Bundesliga travels this term (W1, D5, L7).

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Cologne: Schwäbe - Schmitz, Hübers, Chabot, Hector (c) - Martel, Skhiri - Schindler (Ljubicic 60'), Maina (Thielmann 78'), Kainz (Huseinbasic 78') - Selke (Tigges 61')
Unused subs: Horn, Kilian, Olesen, Limnios, Lemperle
Out: Andersson (knee), Dietz (cruciate ligament), Pedersen (muscular), Uth (pelvis)
Coach: Steffen Baumgart

Gladbach: Omlin - Scally, Itakura, Elvedi, Bensebaini - Kramer, Kone - Hofmann (Ngoumou 90'+1), Neuhaus, Stindl (c) (Plea 82') - Thuram
Unused subs: Olschowsky, Netz, Friedrich, Lainer, Fraulo, Wolf, Herrmann
Out: Jantschke (meniscus), Weigl (ankle)
Coach: Daniel Farke