Bochum (dpa) – VfL Bochum pulled off a little surprise when Dieter Hecking returned to the coaching bench. The bottom team in the Bundesliga fought their way to a 1-1 (0-1) home game against Bayer Leverkusen. The Bochum team, who presented the experienced Bundesliga coach as their new head coach on Tuesday, are still without a win after the tenth matchday, but in the home game against the champions and cup winners they got at least their second point of the season. The guests’ early lead Substitute Koij Miyoshi (88th) equalized late through Patrik Schick (19th minute). A well-deserved punt win for Bochum at the premiere of coach Hecking, who last sat on the bench as head coach in the Bundesliga at Borussia Mönchengladbach in May 2019.
Leverkusen, on the other hand, continued their series with the draw four days after losing 4-0 at Liverpool FC in the Champions League: They did not win the subsequent league game even after the third premier class game in a row. But they have remained undefeated in the Bundesliga for 22 away games across the season. The last away defeat was in May 2023 – in Bochum.
As expected, both coaches had made personnel changes, with Hecking moving to four positions. After last week’s 7-2 debacle at Eintracht Frankfurt, central defenders Ivan Ordets and Erhan Masovic had to make way for Jakov Medic and U21 international Tim Oermann. Bayer coach Xabi Alonso made three swaps after the Liverpool game: Robert Andrich was preferred over Alejandro Palacios, Jonas Hofmann for Aleix Garcia and Schick played in attack instead of Victor Boniface.
And Schick, of all people, who has so far not been able to go beyond the joker role in the league, put the first exclamation mark of the game: after a pass from Florian Wirtz, the Czech national player gave VfL goalkeeper Patrick Drewes no chance. Schick’s first goal of the season had a signal effect for the guests. Because the German champions had trouble at the beginning.
The Bochum team showed a good performance compared to previous weeks, played a stable defense and repeatedly launched quick attacks. The quick switching game gave the home team courage, attacker Moritz Broschinski (18th, 26th and 42nd) had some good finishing opportunities.
But with the lead behind them, Leverkusen were not very impressed for a long time. Instead, Jeremie Frimpong (30th) could have scored the second goal before the break, but was denied by Drewes from a tight angle. Even after the break, Bochum’s goalkeeper was challenged and was just able to fend off a ball deflected by teammate Gerrit Holtmann (57′).
The intensity of the game increased in the final phase. Although the Leverkusen team were able to keep their opponents at a distance most of the time with their possession football, the Bochum team did not give up and stuck to their tactics: quick transition play after winning the ball – and were rewarded. Substitute Miyoshi scored the late equalizer and caused a little surprise when Hecking returned.
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