Bochum (AP) – “VfL, VfL is back”, sang the Bochum fans and celebrated the team on the pitch long after the final whistle. Previously, VfL Bochum had not only won 3-0 (0-0) against Europa League winner Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but above all they had achieved their first victory of the current Bundesliga season, on the ninth day of play. .
“The relief is very great, the last few weeks have not been easy. But we have shown that we are still there,” said VfL pro Philipp Förster, who scored the third goal (90 ° + 4 minutes) after a throw-in and that second goal – Evan Ndicka deflects his 87th free kick into his own goal. Philipp Hofmann (71 minutes) took the lead from a corner.
Bochum remain bottom of the table, but “the feeling of having finally won is so good,” said Bochum captain Anthony Losilla. The way Bochum won in front of 24,850 spectators on Saturday was amazing: through passion, struggle and willpower. Everything the team had lost a week earlier when VfL manager Thomas Letsch made his debut in the 4-0 defeat in Leipzig.
“Today we stressed the opponent at the beginning and we got the ball back quickly. That was what we wanted too. The coach told us: if you don’t go flat afterwards, you didn’t do it well”, reveals the Hofmann scorer. .
Coach Letsch himself, who took over from his predecessor Thomas Reis just two weeks ago, calmly took the top three points in his second game. In fact, he analyzed the game, handed out compliments and admitted mistakes. Because against Frankfurt he played again with a four instead of three defense. “This helps the team more, which is why we will approach the next matches in this way,” said the coach. Captain Losilla praised: “We feel much more comfortable”.
Frankfurt manager Oliver Glasner, on the other hand, struggled with his decision to also play with a back four instead of the usual three back. Overall, Glasner’s strategy went four days before the Champions League second leg at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday (9pm / DAZN) regulars like Makoto Hasebe (not in squad) or Sebastian Rode and Daichi Kamada (substitute bench) from taking the starting XI, not up.
“My lineup and substitution didn’t work out. I am 100% responsible for this defeat,” said Glasner, visibly annoyed. It was also the end of Frankfurt’s unbeaten four-match competitive streak.
The winners didn’t care much about Frankfurt’s bad mood. The captain of VfL Losilla took his teammate Cristian Gamboa as an example. After the victory against Bayern Munich, he answered a reporter’s question on how to celebrate such a success: “Three points, three beers”. Losilla said Saturday after the 3-0: “Today we have three points and three goals, this also means more beer.”
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