Players and staff partied hard later that evening in the ‘Bermuda-Dreieck’, the party area of Bochum, with coach Thomas Reis calling the whole season “a miracle”, whilst stating he was “very proud of his team”, who were one of the hot favourites to go down in pre-season.
Bochum
Bochum secured their top-flight status with a heroic 4-3 win at Borussia Dortmund last weekend after storming into a two-goal lead after eight minutes, only to go 2-3 down before scoring two late goals to take the win. Players and staff partied hard later that evening in the ‘Bermuda-Dreieck’, the party area of Bochum, with coach Thomas Reis calling the whole season “a miracle”, whilst stating he was “very proud of his team”, who were one of the hot favourites to go down in pre-season. The result against Dortmund came as a huge surprise after a run of three games without scoring. Now looking to snap the same winless streak at home, they face an Arminia Bielefeld side that they have a decent ten-game record against in the top flight, as they try to avoid losing both H2Hs in a single season since 1983/84 after a 2-0 defeat in December.
Arminia Bielefeld
Bielefeld sit six points adrift of safety and only catching Stuttgart in the relegation-playoff place is realistic with just two games to play. The last matchday an injury-time equaliser secured a draw against Hertha Berlin and interim coach Marco Kostmann was happy that his team “kept on fighting for that point”, which might yet prove crucial in the relegation battle. With Stuttgart having a daunting trip to Bayern this round, Bielefeld know that a win here would likely see them leapfrog their relegation rivals. A good start could be crucial in Bielefeld achieving that, as they are yet to lose a Bundesliga road trip after scoring first but have collected only two away points after conceding first.
Scorer of their last winning goal, each of Milos Pantovic’s four league strikes this season for Bochum were the last of the match, with three of those the decisive strike. Joakim Nilsson’s first-ever Bundesliga goal last weekend kept Bielefeld alive, but he’s more likely to get booked than score after receiving four yellow cards (of six) on the road since joining the club. Teams in 17th place after 32 rounds avoided the direct drop in six of the last 12 seasons, with those teams finishing in the relegation-playoff spot on five of those occasions.