Bundesliga: Resurgent Cologne put four past Freiburg; Daniel Ginczek brace sees Wolfsburg beat Paderborn

Cologne: Cologne recorded their biggest top-flight win for three years as they beat out-of-form Freiburg 4-0 in the Bundesliga on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_7994261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ismail Jakobs scores for Cologne against Freiburg. AP[/caption] 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 were chasing a Champions League spot but are now in a slump; Cologne are enjoying strong form as they pull away from the relegation zone and now sit 14th. Freiburg seem to have run out of gas following a strong start to the season and have now won just once in their last eight league games. They are in eighth place and 10 points behind Borussia Mönchengladbach in the fourth and last of the Champions League spots. Cologne were 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 were 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 their 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. They have slipped since the winter break with seven conceded from three games.