Bochum-Fortuna Dusseldorf is a match valid for the first leg of the Bundesliga promotion-relegation playoff and is played Thursday at 8:30 p.m.: predictions.
On the last thrilling day of the ’23-’24 edition of the Bundesliga it was Bochum who came off worst, and they are now forced to play the promotion-relegation playoff with the Zweite Liga’s third-place finisher, Fortuna Dusseldorf. Defeated decisively in the away match in Bremen (4-1) by a Werder with practically no more goals, the men led by Heiko Butscher slipped to third-last place and were joined on 33 points by Union Berlin, which avoided the playout thanks to the better goal difference.
And yet Bochum would have only needed to win a point between defending champions Bayer Leverkusen and the match in Bremen to be assured of playing in the top flight again next year. The two wins in a row in the previous weeks against Hoffenheim and Union Berlin, in fact, seemed to have moved Losilla and his teammates away from the red zone for good, certifying the excellent work of ferryman Butscher, who took over from Thomas Letsch following the defeat in Cologne last April 6. And instead, the risk of relegation to the cadet division three years after the last promotion remains real. Bochum will have to pay close attention to Fortuna Dusseldorf, a team undefeated in the league since last February. The red-and-whites, led by Daniel Thioune, remained in the race for direct promotion until the penultimate day, when they did not go beyond a draw with Kiel (1-1), missing the hook-up in the standings.
Fortuna shines especially in attack
Certain of third place, the Fortuna coach in the last match could afford to rotate most of the starters in the challenge with Magdeburg, folded 3-2.
No one scored more goals than the Flingeraners in Zweite Liga, finishing with 72 goals. The big star was Greek center forward on loan from Norwich Tzolis, who scored an impressive 22 goals that earned him the title of top scorer. The other players Bochum will do well to keep an eye on are striker Vermeij, another who finished in double figures (12 goals), and Japanese midfielder Tanaka. On the other side, Butscher in the first leg match will again have fullback Passlack, who was absent in Bremen due to disqualification.
The Prediction
In the last fifteen years only three Zweite Liga teams have come out on top in this playoff, and Fortuna Dusseldorf is among them. The feeling is that this time we could see two balanced challenges, considering the diametrically opposite moments the teams are experiencing. Bochum, in any case, should be able to avoid defeat in front of their home crowd, where they have lost only four times this year. The guests’ astounding offensive numbers make us imagine a challenge in which both will score.
The probable lineups of Bochum-Fortuna Dusseldorf
BOCHUM (4-2-3-1): Luthe; Passlack, Ordets, Schlotterbeck, Bernardo; Losilla, Osterhage; Broschinski, Stöger, Wittek; Hofmann.
FORTUNA DUSSELDORF (4-2-3-1): Kastenmeier; Zimmermann, Oberdorf, de Wijs, Iyoha; Engelhardt, Tanaka; Klaus, Appelkamp, Tzolis; Vermeij.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
