VfL Bochum 1848 - Borussia Dortmund Preview
VfL Bochum will aim to recover from humiliation on the opening weekend of the Bundesliga season when Borussia Dortmund visit Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday.
The Blues suffered a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Stuttgart last time out, while BVB left it late to snatch a 1-0 victory over FC Koln.
After finishing only two points clear of the bottom three last season, VfL Bochum would have been eager to hit the ground running in 2023-24, but they ended up making the worst possible start to the new campaign.
Thomas Letsch's side endured an embarrassing 5-0 crushing at Stuttgart on the opening weekend, allowing both Serhou Guirassy and Silas Katompa Mvumpa to bag a brace in the rout, with former Dortmund defender Dan-Axel Zagadou completing the scoring.
Not only did Bochum see just 39% of the ball at Mercedes-Benz Arena, but they also faced a barrage of 21 shots, managing a solitary attempt on target in reply.
It is also worth pointing out that Bochum suffered a penalty-shootout defeat against Arminia Bielefeld in the first round of the DFB-Pokal earlier this month, drawing 2-2 with the third-tier outfit before losing 4-1 on spot kicks.
The Blues lost 19 of their 34 league outings last season, meaning that no team suffered more Bundesliga defeats than Bochum in 2022-23, and they also finished the previous campaign with the worst defensive record in the division.