RB Leipzig will kickstart their 2024/25 Bundesliga campaign on Saturday against VfL Bochum at the Red Bull Arena.
VfL Bochum managed to survive in the Bundesliga by the smallest of margins. They defeated Fortuna Dusseldorf in the relegation playoff after finishing 16th on the points table, and they will start the new season with an away trip to RB Leipzig who secured a fourth-placed finish last season.
After being inconsistent in the pre-season, RB Leipzig kick-started the new season with a 4-1 win over Rot-Weiss Essen in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. It was a dominant performance from their end and it will be interesting to see if they can put up something similar in their Bundesliga opener.
Marco Rose’s team will look to build momentum with a win in their first fixture as they will square up against defending champions Bayer Leverkusen in the second round of the fixture.
Bochum finished the pre-season on a high by smashing Le Havre 6-0, but they could not get the desired result in the official fixture of the next season. They lost 1-0 to Jahn Regensburg in the first round of DFB-Pokal. Despite dominating the ball, they could assert their dominance by scoring goals.
Squaring up against one of the best teams in the country will surely motivate them to put up a strong fight and after having survived the drop by the smallest of margins, they will be confident of doing it again this time around. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at both teams and tries to predict the tactics they could put to use.
Team News & Tactics
RB Leipzig
The home team will be without the services of Assan Ouedraogo, who has picked up a knee injury, while Christoph Baumgartner, El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Eljif Elmas and Xaver Schlager are all fitness doubts.
RB Leipzig will go ahead with the 4-4-2 formation, where Peter Gulacsi will be in goal. Lukas Klostermann and David Raum will be the full-backs. while Mohamed Simakan and Willi Orban will feature in the heart of the defence.
Nicolas Seiwald will pair up with Amadou Haidara in the centre of the park. The duo will look to control the tempo of the game. Kevin Kampl and Xavi Simons will feature out wide on the flanks. They will drop deep to support the full-backs, but their priority will be to stretch the opposition defence and open up space for their forwards.
Meanwhile, in attack, Lois Openda will start alongside Benjamin Sesko. The duo were in incredible form last season, and Marco Rose will hope they stand up and deliver yet again.
Probable Lineup (4-4-2): Gulacsi; Klostermann, Simakan, Orban, Raum; Kampl, Haidara, Seiwald, Simons; Openda, Sesko
VfL Bochum
The visitors will be without the services of Bernardo, Moritz-Broni Kwarteng and Ivan Ordets. Goalkeeper Manuel Riemann has been left out of their squad, while Mohammed Tolba is slowly closing in on a return.
Bochum will go ahead with the 4-3-1-2 formation, with Patrick Drewes in goal. Felix Passlack will feature alongside Maximilian Wittek as the two full-backs. In the heart of the defence, Tim Oermann will pair up with Erhan Masovic in hopes of keeping a clean sheet.
They will receive some support from the midfield trio of Anthony Losilla, Matús Bero and Ibrahim Sissoko. They will look to shield the backline and control the tempo of the game. Lukas Daschner will feature in a number ten role behind the attacking duo of Moritz Broschinski and Philipp Hofmann.
Probable Lineup (4-3-1-2): Drewes; Passlack, Oermann, Masovic, Wittek; Losilla, Sissoko, Bero; Daschner; Broschinski, Hofmann
Key Stats
- After finishing 16th last season, Bochum survived the drop by defeating Fortuna Dusseldorf in the relegation playoff.
- RB Leipzig have finished the Bundesliga season with 65 to 67 points on six out of the last eight occasions. To challenge for the league title, they need to break the barrier and go beyond.
- Bochum’s new boss Peter Zeidler started off with a defeat to a second division team in their DFB-Pokal first round and he will be eager to bounce back against Marco Rose’s Leipzig.
- RB Leipzig had the joint second-best defensive record in the Bundesliga last season having conceded just 39 goals.
- RB Leipzig have won 15 out of their last 21 Bundesliga home games.
Player to Watch
Xavi Simons
Simons was sensational for RB Leipzig last time out as he scored 10 goals and bagged 15 assists in his 43 outings. The PSG attacking midfielder has started the second season of his loan spell at the German club in some fashion as he bagged a goal and an assist. With the team gearing up for their opening Bundesliga game, Simons will be eager to continue his incredible run.
Prediction
RB Leipzig 3-1 VfL Bochum
Leipzig might not have had the best of times in the pre-season. But they did start the new season with a dominating display against Essen and will be looking for something similar against Bochum.
Meanwhile, the visitors started things off with a defeat in their opening DFB Pokal fixture, and they will find it difficult to bounce back against Marco Rose’s team. The Hard Tackle predicts a 3-1 win for the home team.