Bochum vs. Borussia Dortmund: Team News, Preview, Live Stream and TV Info

Borussia Dortmund will continue their pre-season preparations for the new Bundesliga campaign with their first game on German soil when they travel to Bochum on Saturday. 

Thomas Tuchel will continue experimenting with first-team tactics and player selections as he continues to mull over just which starting XI he will stick with for his first season in charge of the Black and Yellows. 

Standing in their way will be a Bochum side who should offer very little in terms of competition but instead a welcome return to German football. Gertjan Verbeek's side stumbled through the 2. Bundesliga last season and will be hoping for a more formidable league campaign this year, yet they shouldn't expect much hope against Dortmund. 

Date: Saturday, July 18

Time: 14:00 p.m. BST, 9:00 a.m. ET

Venue: RewirpowerSTADION, Bochum, Germany

Television: Not available

Streaming: Not available

Predicted Lineup

Due to the nature of the match, it is almost impossible to predict just who Tuchel will pick in his side on Saturday, yet we can try and predict his starting XI based on previous games. 

If the new manager is hoping to start off with a strong start, then we can expect Dortmund to kick off Saturday's game with Roman Burki in goal, with a back-line of Marcel Schmelzer, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic and Erik Durm. 

Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

Tuchel has tended to begin games this summer with a 4-1-4-1 formation, which may mean a start for Julian Weigl as the holding midfielder with Shinji Kagawa and Ilkay Gundogan playing in front of him. 

In attack, we could well see Marco Reus once again play up front as the lone striker, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Gonzalo Castro playing off him on the left and right wings, respectively. 

Key player: Ilkay Gundogan

Dortmund will undoubtedly have a number of players to keep an eye on during Saturday's match, yet one player who has looked far better over the course of the pre-season compared to his form in the former campaign has been Ilkay Gundogan. 

Having signed a new deal with the club, it really seems as though the German midfielder has finally decided to get his head down and get back to work. And it has shown to work wonders over the course of the summer. Expect to see more brilliance from this talented player.