Bochum (dpa) – A victory should come – absolutely. Arminia Bielefeld wants to play in Bochum in the relegation battle on Friday evening and is under a lot of pressure.
The East Westphalians have not won nine games in a row in the Bundesliga. The fact that the Bielefeld team still have a chance of staying in the class is also due to the weakness of the competition.
With 27 points, Bielefeld is second to bottom in the table. VfB Stuttgart on the relegation place has two points more, Hertha BSC in 15th place has 33 points. If Arminia doesn’t win at VfL Bochum and VfB wins on Sunday at FC Bayern Munich, who are already champions, Bielefeld would be relegated from the Bundesliga for the eighth time this weekend.
“We just want to win now, it’s our turn to win again,” said interim coach Marco Kostmann. “That’s why it’s also good that we can’t tactic with other results, but just stay with us and just focus on this game.” After all: Arminia has had good experiences with Bochum this season. In the first leg, Bielefeld won 2-0.
Striker Klos is missing against Bochum
On Friday (8.30 p.m. / DAZN) Kostmann may be able to rely on regular defender Cédric Brunner again. According to the club, whether the 28-year-old can play will be decided at short notice. Brunner was briefly unconscious in the game at VfL Wolfsburg almost a month ago after a collision and has not played since. The injured club record scorer Fabian Klos and attacker Bryan Lasme will definitely be out.
While Arminia is worried about another year of first class, Bochum has already saved itself. VfL could end the season comfortably. But he doesn’t do that – at least that’s what coach Thomas Reis says. As usual in such situations, the 48-year-old explained that his team did not want to let up. “We want to say goodbye to our own crowd with a good home game in a season that is really flawless,” said Reis. In the game against Arminia he will have to do without the suspended Kostas Stafylidis and the sick midfielder Patrick Osterhage.