VfL Bochum has one foot in the 2nd division. In the first leg of the relegation play-off against Düsseldorf, the Bundesliga team completely lost the plot after the break and now needs a miracle in the second leg.
Bochum players served: Kevin Stöger and Matus Bero. IMAGO/Beautiful Sports
After three years in the Bundesliga, Bochum is threatened with relegation. In the first leg of the relegation match against Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL was defeated, losing 0-3, which was completely deserved. The start of the game went completely wrong from the perspective of the still-first-division team. A corner from Düsseldorf’s Christos Tzolis bounced off the post onto Philipp Hofmann’s thigh and from there over the line. “The 0-1 pretty much sums up the whole season,” said Keven Schlotterbeck on Sky-Microphone, spoke of “a lot of bad luck and a lot of misfortune” in this scene.
The reaction to this shock was correct, however, and Bochum worked to equalize. “If you look at the first half, that’s how we imagined the game would go. We had one or two opportunities, and after a corner we headed the ball against the post,” said captain Kevin Stöger, analyzing the very committed performance in the first half.
But what followed was not enough for a Bundesliga team in the relegation round. VfL only tried to crack Fortuna with long balls, but they obviously lacked the means to play. And their defensive stability also went out the window after the restart. “We definitely lost the game in the second half, we didn’t play our game,” said Stöger, who had to admit that they were countered in their own stadium. “That shouldn’t happen.”
Schlotterbeck’s plan for Monday
Düsseldorf made it 2-0 after a lightning-fast and clean attack via Tzolis and Felix Klaus. “A blow to the neck,” according to Schlotterbeck, who praised the opponent for the goal. “You could see that Düsseldorf is definitely not a second division team.” However, Bochum will most likely be that from next season onwards, and on Thursday evening, according to Stöger, they “messed up as a team.”
But the Bochum team cannot be written off completely after this bitter setback. “Today you got such a slap in the face that you can play anything or nothing on Monday. Either you go home with a 0:6 defeat or you try to turn things around somehow,” is Schlotterbeck’s plan for next Monday. Stöger, meanwhile, is aware that “it will of course be very difficult in Düsseldorf. Especially if we play like we did in the second half.”
Nevertheless: “Football writes wild stories,” said Schlotterbeck. But Bochum needs nothing less than a miracle against Fortuna.
2024-05-23 21:27:52
#Fucked #team #Stöger #Düsseldorf
