Bochum vs Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich’s faltering Bundesliga title defense continues at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion against bottom-half Bochum.

Despite suffering just seven Bundesliga defeats, their lowest number of losses since securing a fifth-place finish in 2003/04, Bochum’s proclivities for sharing the spoils have contributed to their 14th place in the standings. Having drawn a league-high ten matches this term, including the last two on the trot, the hosts commence this round only six points clear of the bottom three. But Thomas Letsch’s side would probably sign up for another stalemate in this match-up, knowing they’ve lost their last three league encounters against Bayern by a combined score of 17-0, including a 7-0 romping in the reverse fixture. On a more positive note, ‘Die Unabsteigbaren’ are unbeaten in home league action since October (W3, D4), scoring precisely once in all three such contests in 2024 (W1, D2). 

On the other hand, Thomas Tuchel has come under heavy scrutiny after his underperforming Bayern Munich side lost back-to-back competitive matches ‘to nil.’ To make things worse, those were not ordinary defeats. Bayer Leverkusen thumped them 3-0 in last weekend’s top-table six-pointer to open up a five-point gap at the table’s summit before Lazio capitalized on a numerical advantage to win the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie 1-0. After years of tearing apart domestic defenses, Bayern’s frontlines have slowed down, failing to score in two of their last five Bundesliga outings, as many firing blanks as in 153 games beforehand! With that in mind, this clash against Bochum is a timely one, with Bayern scoring in every away H2H in over two decades (W9, L1).