Bayern vs Bochum: Line-ups, stats and preview

Bayern vs Bochum match preview

Bayern Munich will be targeting a 20th Bundesliga victory of the season when they host third-bottom Bochum on Saturday.

Vincent Kompany’s side are on a three-match winning run after thrashing Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 at home in their Champions League round of 16 first leg on Wednesday.

With 10 games of the German season remaining, Leverkusen are the only team with a realistic chance of catching Bayern and have an eight-point gap to make up.

Xabi Alonso’s team simultaneously host 12th-placed Werder Bremen before the return game between the German giants in the Champions League on Tuesday (8pm GMT).

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Bochum have been in the relegation zone almost throughout the campaign and are four points from safety, although February proved their best month of the season.

Nicknamed The Undescendables because of their ability to dodge relegation during the 1980s, they increased their chances of another escape act by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at home and drawing at Holstein Kiel and Wolfsburg.

In their fourth season since winning promotion, Bochum lost 11 games and drew three times before picking up their first win against Heidenheim on December 22 to launch a run of seven points from four matches.

Peter Zeidler lasted less than five months as manager before being replaced by current boss Dieter Hecking on November 4.

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— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848EN) March 4, 2025

Bayern Munich vs Bochum team news

Bayern midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic is still ill and Kompany says he expects goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to be out until at least March 29 with a calf injury. “Jonas Urbig will play tomorrow,” said the Belgian.

“Daniel Peretz has been a good replacement so far when Manu was out. Sven Ulreich will be on the bench tomorrow, because Daniel isn’t quite yet back from his [kidney] injury.”

On-loan Monaco forward Myron Boadu will miss out for Bochum with a muscular injury, as will winger Gerrit Holtmann with a hamstring problem.

Ukrainian centre-back Ivan Ordets will be absent again with the hip issue that ruled him out of the 1-0 defeat at home to Heidenheim last Saturday.

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— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) March 7, 2025

Bayern vs Bochum expected line-ups

Bayern starting XI: Urbig, Stanisic, Dier, Ito, Guerreiro, Goretzka, Kimmich, Gnabry, Muller, Coman, Kane

Bochum starting XI: Horn, Oermann, Medic, Bernardo, Passlack, Bero, Sissoko, Krauss, Wittek, Masouras, Hofmann

How to watch Bayern vs Bochum: Live stream, TV channel

Kick-off on Saturday is at 14:30 GMT. The game will not be shown on live TV or live streaming in the UK.

Bayern Munich vs Bochum stats

 

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Bayern vs Bochum prediction

Bayern won 5-0 at Bochum on October 27 and it is hard to look beyond a similar scoreline in the return game, although the visitors’ improvement could make that margin smaller.

“We are where we are in the league because we approach all games in the same way and don’t differentiate between Dortmund and Bochum,” emphasised Kompany, who is facing a manager with a highly respectable five wins out of 25 games in encounters with Bayern.

“Everyone knows what to expect when travelling to Munich,” said Hecking. “We will have to suffer and we will have to run a lot.

“The situation going into the match is clear, and we will have to invest a lot if we want to get a result there.”