MAnuel Riemann gave his former coach Thomas Reis a gift of victory on his explosive return with FC Schalke 04 to VfL Bochum. A slapstick own goal by the VfL goalkeeper (45th minute) led to the promoted team’s 2-0 (1-0) win at the bottom of the Bundesliga table on Saturday. Marius Bülter (78th) also scored in the second win in a row for Schalke, who were still undefeated in the back series.
With 19 points now, the Royal Blues passed Bochum, who have the same number of points, and finally have realistic chances of staying in the class again. VfL, on the other hand, suffered their fourth Bundesliga defeat in a row.
The main focus was on the long-serving Bochumer Reis, who is currently well on the way to keeping Schalke in the league after all. The former Bochum professional, youth coach and coach Reis is said to have informed the VfL officials last summer after Schalke’s promotion to Gelsenkirchen.
“We are from Bochum and you are not”
Bochum rejected this and finally gave Reis a leave of absence after a catastrophic false start with six defeats from the first six games and plenty of discord. Reis himself had always denied any contact with Schalke, but switched to Schalke just a few weeks after leaving Bochum as Frank Kramer’s successor. The Bochum fans had blamed him for this.
The reception on Saturday when Reis returned to the Ruhr Stadium was correspondingly chilly. “If you’re not a dishonorable bastard, who is?” was a poster in the VfL fan corner before the game. There were also “We are Bochumers and you are not” chants.
Reis endured this stoically. He stood demonstratively with a light-colored hooded sweatshirt with a large Schalke emblem on the back on the side edge. “Strangely, I slept well. It’s just like that in sport, especially as a coach. It’s just a matter of keeping a cool head,” Reis said before the explosive duel on Sky. In the game, however, he initially saw a hesitant and inhibited own team. Bochum was snappier and had more and, above all, better chances to score in the first half.
“We want to see you fight”
The best was missed by Philipp Hofmann from close range (7th) and Christopher Antwi-Adjei (21st) a little clumsily after a positional error by the otherwise strong Schalke defender Moritz Jenz. Schalke didn’t have a single chance in the first half, but still unexpectedly took the lead before the break because Bochum’s goalkeeper Riemann gave the visitors a goal. After a cross from Rodrigo Zalazar, Bülter’s ball bounced past Riemann. But instead of catching the ball in front of the line, the 34-year-old unhappily pushed the ball over the line.
Former Bochum coach Thomas Reis was not received so kindly.
:
Image: dpa
After the change, Schalke was more powerful. However, this also had an effect on the Bochum Annex. The VfL fans reacted with disappointment to their team’s harmless second half and chanted: “We want to see you fight.” At least that was not the fault of coach Thomas Letsch’s team. In terms of play, however, it was far too little from VfL. In view of the disappointing second half, Bülter’s decision after a Zalazar corner was well deserved.
