A majority of VfL Bochum players feel that the mood within the team just before the Bundesliga’s 16th-placed team’s first leg of the relegation play-off against second division third-place Fortuna Düsseldorf is like a cleansing storm. The team from the region will have to make do without their professionally undisputed but all too uncontrolled regular goalkeeper Manuel Riemann on Thursday evening (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga, on Sat.1 and Sky), but will rely on the returning Andreas Luthe, who is two years older at 37, and who should support his colleagues with his human maturity and authority. In a two-parter that will be played out under extreme nervous tension on both sides.
