Borussia Dortmund takes on Bochum in the DFB Pokal on Wednesday evening and they will be hoping to book their place in the quarter-finals of the competition with the victory.
Dortmund have managed to reach the finals of the DFB Pokal in six of their last 11 seasons and they will be favourites to pick up a win here.
The visitors are coming into this game on the back of four consecutive victories and they will be fairly confident of grinding out an away result. On the other hand, the home side bounced back from two consecutive defeats with a comprehensive win over Hoffenheim in their last outing.
Bochum picked up a 5-2 win over Hoffenheim and it will have given them a major confidence boost ahead of a crunch clash.
It remains to be seen whether the home side can pull off a morale-boosting result against Dortmund on Wednesday.
Dortmund managed to beat Bochum 3-0 when these two sides met each other back in November and they will be hoping for more of the same here.
Round of 16 👊🔜 pic.twitter.com/zzenPSOrMP
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) February 7, 2023
Team News and Tactics
Bochum
The home side will be without the services of Michael Esser, Cristian Gamboa, and Paul Grave because of injury issues.
Bochum will continue with their usual 4-2-3-1 formation with Manuel Riemann in goal. Saidy Janko and Danilo Soares will line up as the full-backs here and they will look to hit Dortmund on the counter and provide an outlet during transitions.
Ivan Ordets will partner Erhan Masovic at the heart of the defence. Masovic scored last time out and he will look to add to the tally.
Anthony Losilla and Kevin Stoger will sit deep in the midfield pivot and they will look to shield the back four and break up the Dortmund play.
Takuma Asano and Christopher Antwi-Adjei will start as the wingers here. Both players were exceptional in their last outing and they will look to cause problems for an inconsistent Dortmund defence. Philipp Forster will start in the number ten role. The three players combined to deliver two goals and four assists against Hoffenheim.
Philipp Hofmann will lead the line as he looks to add to his goalscoring tally.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Riemann; Janko, Ordets, Masovic,Soares; Losilla, Stoger; Asano, Forster, Antwi-Adjei; Hofmann.
Borussia Dortmund
Thomas Meunier, Mateu Morey and Abdoulaye Kamara are injured for the visitors here.
Dortmund are likely to continue with their 4-1-4-1 shape with Gregor Kobel in goal. Marius Wolf and Raphael Guerreiro will start as the full-backs. The Portuguese international produced a hattrick of assists in his last game and he will be expected to contribute offensively against Bochum as well.
Niklas Sule will start alongside Nico Schlotterbeck in defence.
🎙 Edin Terzic:
"It's a knockout game. A game in which there will be no second chance. A Revier duel is something special – we want to take on the fight. I'm sure we can expect a very heated and passionate atmosphere."
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) February 7, 2023
Emre Can will start as the defensive midfielder and he will look to break up the play and win the ball back for the visitors.
Julian Brandt and Karim Adeyemi will look to add creativity and penetration from the wide areas. The two wide players were on the scoresheet in their last outing and they could be influential here as well. Jude Bellingham and Marco Reus will operate centrally in advanced playmaking roles.
Sebastien Haller will look to extend his goalscoring form here as the main striker.
Probable Lineup (4-1-4-1): Kobel; Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Can; Brandt, Bellingham, Reus, Adeyemi; Haller
Key Stats
- 24 goals have been scored in the last six meetings between Dortmund and Bochum.
- Dortmund have won their last four games across all competitions, scoring 13 goals in the process.
- Bochum have lost two of their last four games across all competitions, conceding 10 goals in the process.
- Dortmund have failed to win five of their last six games against Bochum across all competitions.
Player to watch
Julian Brandt
The Dortmund midfielder is our player to watch out for against Bochum. Brandt has been in sensational form in recent weeks and he could help open up the home side’s defence with his link-up play and vision. He is also an excellent passer in the final third, with an eye for goal.
The German midfielder has two goals and two assists to his name in his last five outings. He will be a key player for Dortmund as they look to make it to the final eight.
Prediction
Bochum 1-2 Dortmund
Dortmund picked up an easy win against Bochum last time out and they will look to replicate that result here. They are in impressive form coming into this game and they will be the favourites here.
Edin Terzic’s side are better on paper and they should be able to grind out a result.
Bochum were outstanding against Hoffenheim in their last game but their defence has been porous in recent weeks and that could let them down against top players like Reus, Bellingham, Brandt etc. The Hard Tackle predicts a 2-1 win for the away side.
