In the final sprint to stay up in the Bundesliga, VfL Bochum is in danger of running out of air.
The Westphalians lost 1:5 (0:3) to VfL Wolfsburg and, after four games in a row without a win, are again deep in the relegation battle. In the decisive phase of the season, Bochum lost its home strength: After five wins in a row, VfL lost four of the last five games in the Ruhr Stadium.
The efficiently countering Wolfsburg, on the other hand, can dream of Europe again. After only one defeat in the last eight games, sixth place in the table is very close again. Mattias Svanberg (10th/56th), Jakub Kaminski (21st), Patrick Wimmer (33rd) and Luca Waldschmidt via rebound after a missed penalty by Jonas Wind (77th) scored the goals for Lower Saxony, who won their first away win in Bochum since 2006.
Bochum’s defense with goalkeeper Manuel Riemann actively helped with the goals conceded. Substitute Moritz Broschinski (68th) only managed the consolation goal.
Bochum coach Thomas Letsch was able to fall back on captain Anthony Losilla after a yellow card suspension, Wolfsburg coach Niko Kovac had to do without Paulo Otavio, who suffered a syndesmosis in the 0-0 draw against Bayer Leverkusen.
The hosts once again relied on their proven recipe: long, high balls, especially to center forward Philipp Hofmann, who was supposed to lay off for his offensive colleagues. The first chance arose from such an action – after a long shot by Danilo Soares, Simon Zoller failed at goalkeeper Koen Casteels (7th). The wolves, on the other hand, tried fast ball passages – and were successful: Svanberg converted a cross from Wimmer to the opening goal.
It continued at high speed: Iwan Ordez narrowly missed the Wolfsburg goal with a header (13′). The guests countered ice cold: Wimmer prevailed on the middle line against two Bochum players, Felix Nmecha passed on to Kaminski, who didn’t give keeper Riemann a chance. Hofmann was unlucky on the other side, who only hit the post (25th).
Wolfsburg made it 3-0 before the break – with a bit of luck. When the outstanding Wimmer couldn’t find a pass, he simply took aim, deflected by Patrick Osterhage and the ball landed in the net. Bochum was now completely off the roll, the spectators reacted indignantly to the increasing number of mistakes.
But when it came to the second half, 22,000 VfL fans cheered their team loudly again. Bochum pushed for the first goal – but after the 0:4 the air was finally gone.
