Bochum loss academic for upbeat Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt says he cannot wait for Saturday's Bundesliga re-start, despite his side losing 2-1 to VfL Bochum 1848 in their final friendly of the winter break.
Preview: Hoffenheim vs Leverkusen
Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez completed the first 45 minutes for Die Werkself, but it was Bundesliga 2 side Bochum who opened and rounded out the scoring either side of Admir Mehmedi's 53rd-minute equaliser.
Trial and error
"The result's of secondary importance because we were trying a few things out," said Schmidt, whose side face bottom club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Saturday's Matchday 18 encounter. "You can see the hard work the lads put in [at our training camp] in the USA, but there's still a few days yet. We're all really looking forward to the Rückrunde and Saturday's game in Hoffenheim."
Leverkusen travel to Sinsheim in fifth place in the Bundesliga, two points behind fourth-in-the-table Borussia Mönchengladbach.