Fortuna Düsseldorf goes into the West duel against VfL Bochum with a lot of personnel and a lot of pressure.
Before the West duel against VfL Bochum on Friday evening (6.30 p.m.), the situation at Fortuna Düsseldorf is tense. After three winless games in a row, the Rhinelanders are only separated by two points from relegation place 16 and three from a direct relegation spot.
Fortuna with major personnel concerns
In this difficult situation, Fortuna coach Markus beginning is worried about personnel – especially in central defense. With the absences of Kenneth Schmidt (torn cruciate ligament), Jesper Daland (red card suspension) and Jordy de Wijs (adductor problems), Düsseldorf now only has two trained central defenders, Tim Oberdorf and Elias Egouli.
“We are struggling in this position and therefore have to consider all options – a three-man or four-man chain,” Beginn said at the press conference before the game. “We have the opportunity to fill up the back three with Valgeir Lunddal or Sima Suso.” However, no final decision has been made yet.
Christopher Lenz will probably also be missing, and key player Florent Muslija is also questionable. Tim Breithaupt, Hamza Anhari, Tim Rossmann, Julian Hettwer and substitute keeper Florian Schock will definitely be out.
Offensive remains the central problem
Florent Muslija from Fortuna Düsseldorf.
The possible loss of creative player Muslija would further weaken what is already the worst offensive in the league (21 goals in 23 games). In the 2-1 defeat at SV Darmstadt the previous week, Düsseldorf fired 18 shots, had a higher number of expected goals (“X-Goals”) and was even praised by visiting coach Florian Kohfeldt – but in the end Darmstadt celebrated.
“It’s not that we don’t create chances to score. We underperform a lot when it comes to goals,” said Beginning. In addition to Muslija, Fortuna is particularly dependent on attacker Cedric Itten, who scored nine of the 21 goals. Apart from Itten, no F95 attacker has been able to convince so far.
Union Berlin’s loanee striker Marin Ljubicic, whom Düsseldorf’s sporting director Sven Mislintat described as “immediate help” when Ljubicic signed him during the winter break, is still injured and has not played a minute so far. “He started part of the team training this week,” said Beginning.
Bochum with good memories of Düsseldorf
Uwe Rösler (2nd from left), coach of VfL Bochum, with Francis Onyeka (r.).
VfL Bochum started the season even worse than Düsseldorf, but under Fortuna’s former coach Uwe Rösler they have worked their way out of the bottom of the table and are four points ahead of F95. The Bochum team have now been unbeaten in ten league games, with the team suffering their last defeat in November. “They work well against the ball, have a lot of players for their transition game and a high tempo,” warned Beginn. One must “pay respect” to Rösler for what he has achieved so far.
The VfL fans have very good memories of their team’s last appearance in the Düsseldorf Arena. In the relegation second leg of the 2023/24 season, Bochum made up a 3-0 deficit from the first leg and managed to stay in the league on penalties.
“In my opinion, the likelihood that we will deliver a decent performance is very high if you look at the last few games,” said Rösler at the press conference. His team is accompanied by at least 10,000 VfL fans. “We will leave everything on the pitch there, I can promise that,” said Rösler, who will only be without Maximilian Wittek (suspended) and Ibrahim Sissoko.
Fortuna game also affected by strike
If you want to go to the stadium on Friday, you will probably have to bring a little more time. Local transport in Düsseldorf is also affected by the public transport strike: many subways, trams and buses are canceled. However, there is an emergency solution: Among other things, the U78 will run between the main station and the stadium every ten minutes.
Before kick-off, Fortuna will officially say goodbye to its long-time professional Marcel Sobottka. Sobottka wore the Fortuna jersey for ten years, played 231 games for the red-whites and was vice-captain – but the 31-year-old did not receive a new contract in the summer. He joined VfL during the winter break and will see each other again on Friday.
Our sources:
Broadcast: WDR.de, “Düsseldorf defense worries before duel against Bochum”, February 26, 2026, 10:36 p.m
