Two nominal left-backs are currently out for Arminia. The supposed number three advertised his own cause in the home win against Bochum – and whetted the appetite for more.

It was the positive scene of the game par excellence for him. Not far from his own corner flag, Andres Andrade got into a difficult pressing situation against several Bochum opponents. But the Bielefeld left-back bit into the duel, won the ball, lost it, recovered it and played a strong opening out of the pressure to the loud applause of the crowded curve on that side.

A top action by the Panamanian, who had, however, broken a sweat once before in the 2-0 home win against VfL. On one occasion, the famously quick Gerrit Holtmann got away from him after a through pass, and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno had to make a brilliant save to prevent the looming 0:1.

You can’t defend that running duel against Holtmann. That’s just the way it is, I can’t blame him for that.

“You can’t defend that running duel against Holtmann. That’s just the way it is, I can’t blame him for that,” coach Frank Kramer was understanding and otherwise took a liking to the performance of the Panamanian, who entered the European stage in 2018 with Linker ASK in Austria and moved to Bielefeld in the summer. “With everything else, Andres was very present, very clear, very calm. He is a super footballer, we all know that. And then today he was a bit of a warrior. I don’t know how many duels he won, but he didn’t give away that much. He was just good in the game. “

53 percent of his duels had been won by Andrade in the end. That was more than the team average in this match (48 per cent) and also more than he has won himself proportionally in the Bundesliga so far (46 per cent). Summing up his coach: “For me, he played a very good game and stood very well defensively. “

Left side of defence as problem zone

For Kramer, it was not unimportant that Cedric Brunner on the right and Andrade opposite him worked well against the nimble Bochum wingers. Especially as the left side of the defence is always threatening to become a problem zone for Bielefeld. After the departure of Anderson Lucoqui to 1. FSV Mainz 05, the Dane Jacob Laursen has so far been able to fill the threatening vacuum best, surprising and convincing in some appearances and already scoring two goals for the season for the offensively weak East Westphalians. However, the 27-year-old has repeatedly proven to be prone to injury. With Genoa loanee Lennart Czyborra, the nominal alternative, also out after an appendectomy, the way was clear for Andrade.

Andrade and the appetite for more

For the time being, the 23-year-old took advantage and whetted the appetite for more. It is very likely that the 14-time national player of his country will follow up his seven Bundesliga appearances so far (three from the start) with another one in the Bielefeld kit next Saturday at the end of the year in Leipzig.