Four clubs with relegation worries
Nobody in the Bundesliga wants to be like Hertha BSC
05/26/2023, 8:46 p.m
Schalke almost need a miracle, Bochum also needs support. A victory is enough for Stuttgart, Augsburg is still one point away. There is trembling in the relegation battle – more or less. Whether miracle or normal rescue: everyone wants to get to safety. Nobody is interested in following Hertha BSC.
At Schalke, where the need for relegation is greatest, the choice of words is particularly drastic. “They have to run until they throw up,” Klaus Fischer, record goalscorer for the Royal Blues, demands unequivocally from the current Bundesliga professionals.
But running alone will not help in the difficult away game against the safe Champions League participant RB Leipzig, which must not be lost under any circumstances. A point could be enough, but coach Thomas Reis warns: “We will definitely not play for a point, we can’t do that.”
The situation for the other teams, who are at the bottom of the table and do not want to follow Hertha BSC into the lower house, is not quite as tricky. But even Schalke’s table neighbor VfL Bochum cannot avoid relegation without support. VfB Stuttgart is only saved with a win, FC Augsburg with a point win.
Bochum’s opponents also have to score
Bochum’s dependence on the results of the competition is not allowed to get to “anne Castroper”. “We’re still in the running and we’ve known since the start of the season that we’d have to fight to the end,” said VfL captain Anthony Losilla.
One thing is clear: opponents Bayer Leverkusen will not give the hosts anything, the factory club needs a win itself to secure sixth place in the table and thus qualification for the European football stage.
Like his captain Losilla, coach Thomas Letsch was also optimistic: “We now want to reap what we have achieved over the course of the season.” Regardless of the outcome of the season, the 54-year-old coach should remain in office.
The Bochum supporters, who meet at noon at the town hall bell, want to help Letsch continue working as a first division coach in order to march together into the stadium, which is sold out with 26,000 spectators.
Augsburg doesn’t know how to dismount
Experience in the fight for relegation should be in the table-15. Keep Stuttgart above the line. A year ago, VfB saved themselves with a last-minute goal from Wataru Endo, this time a home win against TSG Hoffenheim should solve all sporting problems.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt that many of the boys in the team know that they’ve managed to stay up in the season finale,” said coach Sebastian Hoeneß. Almost more important: Endo, Japan international, will be back on the pitch.
For the first time in ten years, FC Augsburg was not definitely saved from relegation on the last day of the game. And so the hosts are under pressure before the game at Borussia Mönchengladbach, because the current form is not right: In the last ten games there was only one win.
“We have to get a point because I’m assuming that Stuttgart and Bochum will win. We know how important the game is,” said coach Enrico Maassen. But it is also a fact: The last sporting FCA relegation is now 40 years ago – at that time from the 2nd division to the Bayernliga.