The memories of football coach Thomas Reis of his first encounter with Borussia Dortmund are still very much alive.

Back then, in 1997, he lost 5-2 to BVB as a player for VfL Bochum, whereupon a major newspaper headlined: "Misery began with rice".

He remembers today that he was more of an inconspicuous professional who was rarely the focus of reporting, so the media focus on his mistakes in the game hit him hard.

"That was my first headline as a VfL player," he said before the upcoming duel as a coach against Dortmund this Saturday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), in the run-up to which he published rather enthusiastic reports about Reis will.

Because the Bochumers are among the most amazing teams of the Bundesliga season so far.

After completing 14 games, the newcomer has earned a six-point cushion for relegation rank and is only four points behind a place that entitles him to participate in the European Cup.

"All in all, to this day we can be very satisfied with the performance," said sports director Sebastian Schindzielorz.

VfL has succeeded in what all Bundesliga clubs are hoping for, but only few succeed: While fellow promoted Fürth in the Bundesliga, for example, is completely overwhelmed, in Bochum both the team and many individual players are developing rapidly.

Reis describes the cracking 7-0 defeat at FC Bayern on matchday five as a key moment in this process, which hurt but was also useful as a lesson.

Record of a Champions League candidate

As a result, the Bochumers have adapted the courageous style of a top club in the second division to the new circumstances. In the meantime, the team not only works with dedication for the defensive, the willingness to take risks in the build-up of the game has also been reconsidered. No Bundesliga club hits long balls anymore, an elaborate passing game through midfield harbors too many dangers. But the Bochumers defend very carefully, they have learned to fight the great individual quality of many opponents efficiently.

"We said we had to bring our football up to par with the league, that was a process," said Reis in a podcast of the "WAZ", and that is exactly what turned out well. In the last seven games, the newcomer collected 15 points, that is the record of a Champions League candidate. In addition, the team is in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup, "at the moment it's very uncomfortable to play against us," said Reis.

Because the team plays with a high intensity, and there are a few special individual players who are always important for such a phase of success.

Goalkeeper Manuel Riemann has repeatedly shone with saves, and Milos Pantovic amazed the whole league with his two goals from the center line against Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg.

The center forward Sebastian Polter, who sometimes looks a bit wooden, has started to score goals regularly, which is why the cruciate ligament rupture of Simon Zoller's most important attacker at the beginning of the season suddenly appears much less catastrophic than in October.

Don't freeze in awe

But the most amazing development is the captain Anthony Losilla behind him. The 35-year-old midfielder has been playing for VfL since 2014, and he symbolizes the adaptability of this team. Skeptics had feared that the Frenchman, who had never played in a first division before the current season, would quickly be overwhelmed in the Bundesliga, even Reis said: "I didn't think things would go so well for him." But Losilla is growing like that the whole team with its tasks: “He has developed again and is now holding his position better, which means that he can help the team even more. That's sensational, "said Reis about his captain.

This 15th matchday is therefore an almost perfect time for the biggest game of the season, to which 13,799 spectators are allowed. They are pretty happy about this permission in Bochum, because there is great concern about a phase with ghost games without the energizing spectators. After all, the home strength is one of the main reasons for the strong season. No team has conceded so few goals at home in the season so far as the Bochum team, namely four, that nourishes confidence. "We have a home game, we have a derby that the spectators have longed for after eleven years," says Reis.

What is important against BVB with its dreaded attack, however, is "that you do not freeze in awe".

When Munich went 7-0, the players gradually lost their self-confidence, but Dortmund will face a mature VfL.

With a team that has recently won twice, has learned to assert itself at a higher level, and in which many players have had the best weeks of their careers so far.

Incidentally, this also applies to rice, whose work would certainly not be associated with the term “misery” at the moment.