Bochum 2-0 Borussia Dortmund: Visitors slump to back-to-back defeats under Kovac

Borussia Dortmund fell to back-to-back defeats under new boss Niko Kovac in the Bundesliga after getting beaten 2-0 by relegation-threatened Bochum at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday.

The home side made a bright start to the game, creating three chances in the opening nine minutes before they opened the scoring through Giorgos Masouras, who turned home a pass from captain Philipp Hofmann in the 33rd minute.

The Greek forward then doubled Bochum’s lead only two minutes later when he intercepted a weak backpass from Niklas Sule before beating goalkeeper Gregor Kobel in Dortmund’s goal.

Masouras had a chance to complete his hat-trick in the 69th minute, only to be denied by Kobel as Bochum remained on the front foot in the second period.

It was Kovac’s second defeat in as many league matches since replacing Nuri Sahin as Dortmund manager, with them having also lost to Stuttgart last week.

However, he guided the side to a 3-0 win against Sporting CP in their Champions League knockout play-off tie on Tuesday.

Dortmund, who have won just one of their last seven league games, are 11th with 29 points and at risk of missing out on a top-four finish and a spot in next season’s Champions League. Fourth-placed Leipzig are eight points ahead of Kovac’s side.

Bochum remain in 17th place but are level on 14 points with Heidenheim, who are 16th and in the relegation play-off spot.

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Sind wir geil! Tanzt den Sirtaki, Freunde! #BOCBVB 2:0 pic.twitter.com/yiFpVkfdCn

— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848eV) February 15, 2025

Data Debrief: Bochum claim rare success against BVB

Bochum had only won one of their last 13 Bundesliga games against Dortmund (D5 L7) and were winless in six league home games against their opponents since 2007 before Saturday’s meeting.

However, they put on an impressive display at home where they fired 18 shots with nine of them on target to generate an expected goals (xG) of 3.0, compared to Dortmund’s 2.47 xG from 17 shots and 69.2% possession.

Bochum’s nine shots on target were also a season-high for them in the league this season.