Bielefeld suffers a sensitive setback in the struggle for relegation
Status: 10:48 p.m
In the fight against relegation, hope is fading in Arminia Bielefeld’s camp. VfL Bochum, which had already been saved, also failed to win. The club could return to the second division this weekend.
Arminia Bielefeld is staggering towards second-class status and can already be relegated from the Bundesliga this weekend. The weak penultimate team lost at VfL Bochum on Friday evening after an own goal by George Bello in the 89th minute, deservedly 1-2 (1-1). If VfB Stuttgart wins on Sunday at Bayern Munich, who are already champions, Arminia will be relegated to the Bundesliga for the eighth time.
“Bayern are top of the table. We hope that they will give us a little help,” said Bielefeld’s offensive player Patrick Wimmer on the DAZN streaming service. For minutes, the Arminia players stood in the center circle with their heads hanging, then they felt the full anger of their supporters when they walked into the guest corner. While the fans of VfL Bochum, who had already been saved, celebrated their team with “Never more second division” chants, the frustration of the Bielefeld supporters ran deep. “Now we have to hope for the others. That’s the last straw,” said captain Manuel Prietl.
The Stuttgarters are two points ahead of Bielefeld’s ten games in a row without a win on the relegation rank. The shockingly harmless East Westphalians in Bochum can no longer make it directly into the class. The play-offs against the third in the second division are the last hope. In front of 25,000 spectators, Sebastian Polter gave Bochum, who had already been saved before the game, the lead for the first time in the 22nd minute. Joakim Nilsson (35th) only managed to equalize for Bielefeld in the meantime.
After staying in the league thanks to the 4:3 win at Borussia Dortmund on the previous day and the celebrations that followed, Bochum promised that they would also give their all against Bielefeld. Sport director Sebastian Schindzielorz asserted on the DAZN streaming service that it was a duty to deliver a good performance again at home in the last home game and to say thank you somewhere for the support of the current season. “Other clubs have a lot at stake and we want to do everything we can to deliver a decent result.”
Bielefeld goalkeeper Ortega prevented even worse with brilliant saves
The hosts then started furiously. In the first eight minutes, Sebastian Polter, Takuma Asano and twice Gerrit Holtmann had good chances, but without hitting the goal. The Arminen, on the other hand, acted cautiously as planned. Interim coach Marco Kostmann had announced that they “didn’t want to run into a knife like a hooray”. But he certainly hadn’t imagined it to be as defensive and weak as Bielefeld.
Again and again Bochum came dangerously in front of the Arminia goal, in which goalkeeper Stefan Ortega prevented an early deficit with brilliant saves against shots from Holtmann and Milos Pantovic again. In the 22nd minute, however, he too was powerless: Polter headed a cross from Pantovic into the goal for a well-deserved lead, while Ortega only saved the ball from behind the line.
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While the Bielefeld supporters mainly attracted attention with masses of pyrotechnics burning, the VfL fans sang and celebrated without interruption from the start of the game – until the 35th minute. Nilsson headed a free-kick from Gonzalo Castro into the Bochum goal for a surprising equalizer and temporarily silenced the VfL supporters. The Swede had also scored the late goal to make it 1-1 against Hertha BSC in the previous week. As the season progressed, Bochum lost momentum and Bielefeld became much more present.
The second half was much more balanced than the first. However, Bielefeld’s attackers lacked the necessary precision to embarrass Bochum’s defence. For their part, VfL had more possession, but were unable to capitalize on it – until Bielefeld’s Bello scored an own goal for Bochum in the final minute. Arminia receives RB Leipzig on the last day of the game – then possibly as relegated.
Side note: Hertha BSC can no longer be directly relegated from the Bundesliga after Bielefeld’s defeat this season. With a six-point lead, the Berliners can no longer be overtaken by the East Westphalians in the table on the last day of the game. In the worst case, coach Felix Magath’s team is threatened with relegation games against the third-placed team in the 2nd division if they slip down to 16th place.
