Freiburg's Bundesliga slump continues in 4-0 loss at Cologne
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Cologne recorded its biggest top-flight win for three years as it beat out-of-form Freiburg 4-0 in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Sebastiaan Bornauw scored first after a corner in the 29th minute and Jhon Cordoba made it 2-0 in the 55th with his fourth goal in as many Bundesliga games.
Kingsley Ehizibue and Ismail Jakobs each scored in stoppage time to stretch Cologne's margin of victory. The last time Cologne won a top-tier game by four or more goals was in January 2017 with a 6-1 rout of Darmstadt.
The teams are on opposite trajectories in the Bundesliga. Freiburg was chasing a Champions League spot but is now in a slump; Cologne is enjoying strong form as it pulls away from the relegation zone and now sits 14th.
Freiburg seems to have run out of gas following a strong start to the season and has now won just once in its last eight league games. It's in eighth place and 10 points behind Borussia Mönchengladbach in the fourth and last of the Champions League spots.
Cologne was deep in the relegation fight for much of the first half of the season after being promoted. However, new head coach Markus Gisdol has revived Cologne's fortunes since arriving in November with five wins from nine games.
Wolfsburg rose two spots to ninth after beating last-place Paderborn 4-2 with two goals from Daniel Ginczek.
Paderborn took a brief lead with Ben Zolinski's 22nd-minute goal at a corner, but Robin Knoche replied for Wolfsburg with a header four minutes later. After Paderborn was reduced to 10 men - with Gerrit Holtmann getting a straight red card for violent conduct - Ginczek scored twice to extend Wolfsburg's lead.
Sebastian Vasiliadis gave Paderborn hope of a comeback with a goal in the 72nd but again Wolfsburg responded with a goal of its own, this time a well-taken free kick by Maximilian Arnold.
Wolfsburg had the joint-best defense in the league in the first half of the season, conceding just 18 goals in 17 games. It's slipped since the winter break with seven conceded from three games.
