How Cologne fought back to draw with Bayer Leverkusen: AWS match facts analysis

Showing a reaction was the order of the day for Cologne and Leverkusen following respective 5-0 and 5-1 defeats to Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich. Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart set his side up using his preferred 4-4-2 diamond formation, with captain Jonas Hector back to take Kingsley Ehizibue's place on the left-hand side of the defence. Dejan Ljubicic (for Jan Thielmann) and Ondrej Duda (for Sebastian Andersson) were reinstated in midfield, while Mark Uth assumed No.10 duties off the shoulder of Modeste.

Like his counterpart, Gerardo Seoane stuck to his tried and tested 4-2-3-1 formation, albeit with three personnel changes to the side beaten so comprehensively by Bayern. Piero Hincapie was preferred to Mitchel Bakker at left-back, Robert Andrich replaced Nadiem Amiri in the No.6 role and Karim Bellarabi got the nod over Paulinho on the right-hand side of the Leverkusen attack.

Leverkusen's early offensive pays off

Both teams threw themselves into the challenges from the get-go (Cologne won a total of 112 compared to Bayer's 126), but only Leverkusen found their stride in an attacking sense as Florian Wirtz pounced on a mistake by Modeste to set up Patrik Schick for the first effort on goal. Cologne didn't heed the warning. Ten minutes later, Modeste's diagonal ball was intercepted by Andrich, who swiftly sent Moussa Diaby on his way. He found Schick, who fired in the opener.

Leverkusen seized the momentum and duly doubled their lead. Wirtz left Cologne right-back Benno Schmitz in his wake, before feeding Andrich, who did a similar number on Rafal Czichos. His shot was blocked, but Bellarabi made no mistake with a powerful follow-up finish under Horn. Die Werkself's early offensive has struck goal-d.

The deployment of Bellarabi on the right wing was key. Forty-five percent of Leverkusen's first-half attacks went through the 31-year-old, including a counter-attack that culminated in right-back Jeremie Frimpong crashing an effort against the woodwork. Needless to say, his injury-enforced withdrawal in the 35th minute took the sting out of Leverkusen's tail. Bellarabi's replacement, Amine Adli, didn't offer quite the same level of intensity.

Cologne's right sparks comeback

Cologne now had room to breathe. In the first half, the Billy Goats had just one effort on goal: a long-range Hector strike that Lukas Hradecky tipped away. The Cologne skipper was presented with an even better opening shortly before half-time, but couldn't land his header from Duda's right-wing free-kick on target.

After the restart, Leverkusen continued to see more of the ball (58 percent) and counter at speed, but the end product was lacking. Cologne stuck to to their guns by attacking up the right-hand side, where Bakker - on at left-back for Hincapie - could not stem the supply of crosses. One of them, with a little over an hour on the clock, was worked to Hector on the opposite side. His delivery was misjudged by Jonathan Tah, allowing Modeste to calmly convert from close range for 2-1.

Seoane's shutting up shop backfires

Seoane's reaction was to protect Leverkusen's one-goal lead. Diaby and Wirtz - the team's creators-in-chief - were sacrificed for centre-back Edmond Tapsoba and holding midfielder Exequiel Palacios as Bayer shifted to a three-man defence. Baumgart responded by throwing on a physical centre-forward in the shape of Andersson. It proved a masterstroke. Five minutes after entering the fray, the Swede beat Tapsoba to a long throw-in from the right. His flicked header found the bonce of Modeste, who made no mistake.

Leverkusen, who had come away from their UEFA Europa League game at Real Betis with a point three days earlier, could not flip the switch. Their defensive set-up restricted them to three efforts on goal in the second half. In the end, Cologne - with the superior numbers for xGoals (1.62; 1.14), shots on goal (17;9), pass accuracy (78; 67 percent) and distance covered (72.4; 14.1 miles) - were unfortunate not to have won the contest.

Modeste was the Man of the Match. The Frenchman, who was the fastest Cologne player on the pitch (20.7 mph), went from villain with his first-half misplaced pass, to villain courtesy of his second-half double.