The Bochum team suffered their first defeat in the 2nd Bundesliga this year. Winner Fortuna Düsseldorf gains breathing room in the fight against relegation with a 2-1 (1-0) home win.
VfL got off to a better start in the first half, but after that the Fortunes dominated the action on the pitch in front of the home crowd and were rewarded with Cedric Itten’s goal shortly before half-time. After the break, Florent Muslija scored a dream goal, to which Bochum found an answer too late with Farid Alfa-Ruprecht’s goal.
Relegation worries instead of promotion fights for Fortuna and VfL
Before the season, many would have placed a duel between relegated Bochum and Düsseldorf, who are hoping to be promoted, on matchday 24 in the top third of the table – in the fight for points towards the Bundesliga. However, the sad reality for both teams from a fan perspective is that they are fighting to put a lot of space between themselves and the relegation zone as quickly as possible.
Fortuna and VfL started the second half of the season with eight points from the first six league games and both showed early on Friday evening that three more should be added. Gerrit Holtmann could have given the Bochum team a dream start after a cross from Cajetan Lenz, but his direct shot at the far post went well over the goal (2nd minute).
Timo Horn saves Bochum several times in dire need
The Fortunes then underlined their ambitions to win with, among other things, advances into the Bochum penalty area initiated by Christian Rasmussen, but were either denied by attentive VfL defenders or missed the goal, as Elias Egouli did with his header, which was not very powerful, but which VfL keeper Timo Horn let jump past the goal (5th).
Düsseldorf with more of the game, Bochum with the better chance of taking the lead – that was the situation until the 23rd minute, when Horn was just able to direct a tricky touch-down over the crossbar after a direct shot from Shinta Appelkamp that wasn’t fully hit. Düsseldorf’s Valgeir Lunddal was no longer on the pitch after being substituted due to injury (20th).
Cedric Itten takes the Düsseldorf lead
The cross for Appelkamp was Emmanuel Iyoha, who himself had the Düsseldorf lead six minutes later when he ran alone towards Horn from a half-right position. The latter defused his shot with a foot save (29′). Shortly afterwards, Horn once again stood in the way of a goal for the hosts when he cleared Anouar El Azzouzi’s attempted “tunnel” for a corner (31′).
In the 45th minute, Bochum sent a sign of life with a shot from Mats Pnewig, which not only posed no problems for Florian Kastenmeier in the Fortuna goal, but also gave Düsseldorf the lead. Kastenmeier quickly brought the ball back into play, and Iyoha once again had enough time from the front right to deliver a precise cross, which Itten headed into the far corner, unstoppable for Horn.
Muslija with a dream goal in the right corner
The lead at the break was deserved and the Bochum team was challenged after the break. Fortuna coach Markus beginning was satisfied and had no reason to make any personnel changes, while Uwe Rösler, on the other hand, was hoping for more offensive accents by bringing in Moritz Kwarteng and Francis Onyeka.
After the first promising advances from Düsseldorf and a half-chance from Onyeka (55th), the next blow in the neck for VfL in the second half didn’t take long to arrive. Rasmussen initially claimed the ball in the penalty area against several Bochum players and returned it to the penalty area when he couldn’t find a gap. Muslija was lurking there and flicked the ball into the right corner (57′).
Düsseldorf defense invites Alfa-Ruprecht to play Connection hit a
The guests not only couldn’t find a quick answer to this, but were also happy when Itten didn’t increase the score in the 69th minute. Horn once again responded brilliantly. It was the Düsseldorfers’ own fault that things got exciting in the final phase. Kastenmeier saved them from scoring with a powerful shot from Leandro Morgalla (70′), but in the 79th minute the people in front of him opened the goal wide in front of him.
When Oliver Olsen brought the ball to the far post with his outside instep, where Farid Alfa-Ruprecht was completely free, he had no trouble using one of Bochum’s rare offensive touches to make it 1:2. It was to be Fortuna’s last serious negligence.
The Fortunes now have to play away from home twice in a row, with the schedule taking them to 1. FC Nürnberg on Saturday (March 7). The VfL Bochum receives Eintracht Braunschweig on the same day.
Our sources:
- Second division game between Fortuna Düsseldorf and VfL Bochum on February 27th, 2026
- Fortuna Dusseldorf
- Online portal “transfermarkt.de”
Broadcast: WDR.de“Livestream Fortuna Düsseldorf against VfL Bochum”, February 27th, 2026 6:20 p.m
