VfL Bochum suffered its first defeat under Dieter Hecking. The local club lost 0-2 to VfB Stuttgart.

After its respectable performance against the champions, VfL Bochum suffered its first setback in its second game under coach Dieter Hecking. VfL lost 2-0 (0-0) to VfB Stuttgart and remains stuck at the bottom of the Bundesliga table with just two points.

For VfB, which had won only one of its last six league games, it was the hoped-for success at the start of the hot year-end sprint. The impressive Chris Führich scored the opening goal in the 53rd minute in front of 59,000 spectators. Justin Diehl, who had come on as a substitute just seconds earlier, made it 2-0 (78) with his first Bundesliga goal.

Sebastian Hoeneß’s team is back in Champions League action on Wednesday (6:45 p.m./DAZN) against Red Star Belgrade. In the league, the runners-up managed to close the gap on the international places. VfL, who last won in Stuttgart 37 years ago, remain bottom of the table after their ninth defeat of the season. The recent 1-1 draw against Leverkusen had raised hopes of a turnaround.

Hoeneß had to do without Deniz Undav, Dan-Axel Zagadou, Jamie Leweling and El Bilal Toure due to injury. Angelo Stiller and Anrie Chase, who had been struggling recently, sat on the bench. “It’s about making the best of the situation,” Hoeneß told Sky before the game. At the same time, he warned against VfL: The team is “back to life.”

At first, VfB was clearly superior against a very defensive VfL, which fielded the same team as against Leverkusen. Stuttgart had two pieces of bad luck in the early stages: first, a cross from Maximilian Mittelstädt grazed the crossbar of the Bochum goal (6th minute), then a header from Jeff Chabot crashed against the crossbar (16th minute). Josha Vagnoman also failed to connect properly with the ball when he was unmarked (12th minute).

After a strong start, Stuttgart remained on top but hardly created any chances. Only a shot from Führich (37′) came close to breaking the deadlock. At the other end, Hecking had called on his team to show more courage, but there was little sign of that in the first half.