Two weeks ago the Bochum fans experienced a game for the history books in the home win against FC Bayern. The Ruhr club also sniffed a surprise against Leipzig. But nothing came of it in the end.
VfL Bochum missed the next home win against a top club. The promoted team held up well against RB Leipzig for a long time and had a number of chances to take the lead – but ultimately had to admit defeat 1-0.
Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku scored the only goal of the day a good ten minutes before the end of the game. The away win sees the Bulls jump back up to fourth place in the Champions League. Bochum remains in eleventh place and still has a ten point lead over a direct relegation zone.
That’s how the game went
The RB professionals had an unusual journey on the day of the game. Because the team bus hit a bollard when leaving the Kaiserau sports school and was damaged, the players and coaches had to take taxis the 45-kilometer route to Bochum. The team therefore arrived late at the stadium. Nobody got hurt.
Compared to the 3: 1 on Thursday in the Europa League in San Sebastian, Tedesco had replaced almost the entire team. Only goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and defensive players Mohamed Simakan, Willi Orban and Lukas Klostermann remained in the team. Colleague Thomas Reis also rotated with a view to the cup and exchanged four offensive players.
After the 3-0 defeat in the first leg, Bochum’s defense was the best in the league with 17 goals conceded from 16 games. VfL involved the more playful guests in a dogged fight from the start. Leipzig held back, but had to play with an unusual number of long balls and were robbed of some of their strengths.
RB’s first shot on goal was not noted until the 23rd minute when Yussuf Poulsen headed wide. The value of “expected goals”, which shows how likely goals were given the opportunities, stood at an incredible 0.1 to 0.03 at the break. More 0-0 is hardly possible.
The first goalkeeper to save a ball was Leipzig’s Gulasci after a shot by Elvis Rexhbecaj (54′). Two minutes later, Bochum’s Milos Pantovic had the first big chance of the game, but shot over it. Now Tedesco made a substitution, and the three brought together offensive power with André Silva, Nkunku and Dani Olmo (58th). From then on there was a little more train in RB, but VfL almost scored the goal again with a crossbar header from captain Anthony Losilla (70th) and a post header from Christopher Antwi-Adjej (78th). Then Leipzig struck through Nkunku.
Tedesco on Moscow boycott: “Hit the wrong people”
After the game, Leipzig coach Coach Domenico Tedesco also commented on the upcoming round of 16 duel with Spartak Moscow – and despite the war between Russia and Ukraine, he apparently hopes that the duels with his former club will take place.
“When the question of a boycott comes up: In my opinion, it always affects the wrong people. It primarily affects the athletes and the fans,” said Tedesco after Sunday’s 1-0 win at VfL Bochum. It is clear, however, “that I would have liked a different framework for this game. The current situation is bad. For me, war is not a solution in any situation.”
After the draw, “around 60 people wrote to him that they would be happy to see me again. They also made a few jokes that they would like to beat Leipzig with their ex-coach.”
RB announced on Sunday during the game that the club is in intensive talks with Uefa and would like a decision to be made soon. It is also assumed that the association will make a decision in the near future, it said in an RB message.
The Saxons were drawn against Spartak Moscow on Friday. According to the current status, Leipzig have home rights on March 10th, the second leg is to be played on March 17th on neutral ground. After the Russian army invaded Ukraine, however, voices calling for a boycott of Russian sport increased.