VfL Bochum goes into the basement duel with VfB Stuttgart on Easter Sunday (5.30 p.m. / DAZN) with almost no personal worries.
“It is anything but normal not to have any injured players at the beginning of April. Big compliments to the athletic and medical department,” said coach Thomas Letsch at the press conference on Thursday.
Only Marko Johansson pulled out of training on Thursday due to muscular problems, his commitment at the weekend is questionable. The rest of the 27-strong squad is currently available to the coach in a duel with the cup semi-finalists. “I hope it stays that way,” said the 54-year-old Letsch.
The second leg against Stuttgart shows a parallel to the first leg – again VfB changed coaches immediately before the encounter with Bochum. At that time, Michael Wimmer followed Pellegrino Matarazzo, now Sebastian Hoeneß follows Bruno Labbadia. The Swabians won the first leg 4-1.
“The situation is similar. It’s exciting to see how VfB approach the game,” said Letsch, who doesn’t want to attach too much importance to the change of coach at the bottom. “There are a few more question marks than usual. It’s important that we keep to ourselves.”
The game against Stuttgart is “not a final, but it’s a game that can take us a long way from a competitor. That’s how we approach it,” said Letsch. VfL ranks 14th in the table before the 27th matchday. with 26 points, six points ahead of Stuttgart (20).
