VfL’s 3-0 (2-0) success in the state capital was primarily a product of the higher top speed. Before the first two hits, the outstanding Bochum Gerrit Holtmann ran away from his opponent Matthias Zimmermann. At the first goal, Holtmann then played for Simon Zoller (12th), who completed the volley. After brilliant preparatory work by Robert Zulj, he completed the second sprint himself (35th).
Riemann and the post as saviors
As well as both goals were played out, they did not correspond to the course of the game. From the start it was almost exclusively the Düsseldorf team that put pressure on them and created a large number of excellent opportunities. In the 7th minute, VfL keeper Manuel Riemann had to save against Dawid Kownacki, seconds later the post took over for him: Peterson failed after a deflected shot on the aluminum.
It went on in this rhythm. Riemann, who twisted his foot in the early stages and clearly continued to play in great pain, also had to intervene against Rouwen Hennings, Jakub Piotrowski and again Peterson. When Riemann seemed defeated, Kownacki involuntarily blocked a shot from Hennings just before the goal line.
Second half a little more balanced
In the second round, the Bochum team tried to shift their activities to more than half of the Düsseldorf team beyond pure counter-attack. In this way they managed to significantly reduce the pressure on the hosts. After about an hour, the Fortunians felt that they couldn’t achieve anything great that evening – and that they would inevitably have to spend at least one more season in the second class.
Leonardo Koutris and substitute Edgar Prib each tried from a distance, but like their colleagues found their master in Riemann in the first round. Otherwise, Bochum defended highly concentrated after the break, barely allowing Hennings to get into final positions with the exception of one big chance shortly after the restart, but also Kownacki and Peterson. When the return to the top was already sealed, the substitute Soma Novothny set the end after a mistake by Düsseldorf keeper Florian Kastenmeier (87th).
“So we have no business up there”
Fortuna’s midfielder Marcel Sobottka was self-critical after the game at Sky: “Today you saw the difference. We had seven or eight top-class players, so one of them has to come in. If we don’t score such goals, we have no business up there. In Bochum you can see that in scenes like this they are a top team. “
Bochum’s match winner Gerrit Holtmann was delighted: “Our match plan worked out perfectly. We wanted to do the deep runs on the outside because we knew that Düsseldorf is vulnerable there. Those were definitely three very important points – but of course we want to improve.”
Rösler ticks off the ascent
Düsseldorf coach Uwe Rösler was frustrated: “We had 14 degrees in the penalty area, so someone has to go in there to put Bochum under real pressure. So we don’t need to talk about promotion anymore – we have to digest this defeat first.”
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