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After a horrible second half of the season that saw take only eight points from their final nine Bundesliga fixtures, Wolfsburg finds themselves in the relegation playoff in Germany. It was only last season that the side defeated Real Madrid 2-0 in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. They will face yoyo club Eintracht Braunschweig to determine the 18th member of next season’s Bundesliga.
It’s a remarkable swing that further demonstrates how volatile Germany’s top flight can be. Former giants Hamburg have flirted with relegation many times in recent years and Stuttgart, who won the league in 2006-07, spent this season in the second division though they will be back up for next season. In a year when the English top six seemed to calcify and the gap between them (and Everton, maybe) and the rest of English football widened, it’s interesting to see how different German football continues to be.
Any Bundesliga fans in the commentariat? Did you get to see much of Wolfsburg this year? What went wrong for them?
Links
Bundesliga Fanatic took a closer look at Wolfsburg.
Don’t miss this piece on the Shanghai derby.
The Ringer on the New Big Six