Borussia Dortmund vs. Bochum: Can BVB bounce back in derby clash?

Borussia Dortmund

Prior to their recent meeting with Stuttgart, Dortmund had put together a five-game unbeaten run at the start of the 2024/25 campaign. After breezing through the first round of the DFB-Pokal, Dortmund went on to take seven points from their first three Bundesliga matches. They then produced a fine away performance to ease to a comprehensive 3-0 win in their Champions League opener against Club Brugge.

Unfortunately for Dortmund, their building momentum was quashed by a demoralising 5-1 defeat in last Sunday’s trip to the MHPArena. Dortmund trailed by three goals before Serhou Guirassy found the net against this former club. However, Stuttgart went on to score two more goals to condemn Nuri Şahin to his first defeat as Dortmund boss.

Die Schwarzgelben will now return to Signal-Iduna Park where they have won each of their previous four Bundesliga matches. The hosts have also won their last two home matches against Bochum, recording a 3-0 win in November 2022 and a 3-1 win in January this year.

Team News

Felix Nmecha is set to miss out after picking up an injury last weekend. Sahin has revealed that Ramy Bensebaini and Julian Ryerson have been struggling with illness, while Gio Reyna is back in training following his recent injury absence.

Bochum

Peter Zeidler has experienced an underwhelming start to his tenure as Bochum boss, having seen his side take one point from their opening four league games. They kicked off the campaign with three consecutive defeats against RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Freiburg. 

While they managed to end their losing run last weekend, they would have been disappointed to miss out on all three points against Holstein Kiel. Matúš Bero and Lukas Daschner grabbed a goal apiece to give Bochum a 2-1 lead before Shuto Machino netted an 89th-minute equaliser to deny Zeidler his first win as Bochum manager.

As a result of the 2-2 draw, Bochum have now gone six league matches since beating Union Berlin in May. If they are to end that winless run on Friday, die Unabsteigbaren will have to beat Dortmund for the first time since claiming a 4-3 away victory in April 2022.

Team News

The visitors are expected to be without the services of defenders Bernardo and Ivan Ordets. A third defender, Erhan Masovic, will miss out whilst on parental leave.