PADERBORN, Germany (AP) 鈥� Christian Eriksen and Wolfsburg were relegated from the Bundesliga on Monday after losing at Paderborn 2-1 in the second leg of their end-of-season playoff to determine which plays in Germany鈥檚 top division next season.
Laurin Curda scored Paderborn鈥檚 promotion-clinching goal in the 10th minute of extra time after Wolfsburg played all but the first 13 minutes with 10 players.
It gave Paderborn, which finished third in the second division, a 2-1 win on aggregate after the teams drew of their playoff in Wolfsburg on Thursday.
鈥淚 could only cry, I couldn’t get my emotions under control at all,鈥� Paderborn midfielder Ruben M眉ller said of the club鈥檚 third promotion to the Bundesliga.
鈥淚ndescribable, it’s unbelievable what’s happened here,鈥� said Paderborn goalkeeper Dennis Seimen, who made two late saves to preserve the win.
It鈥檚 Wolfsburg鈥檚 first relegation since the Volkswagen-backed club was promoted to the Bundesliga in 1997. Wolfsburg won the championship in 2009 but has struggled in recent seasons. It survived playoff deciders against Eintracht Braunschweig in 2017 and Holstein Kiel the following year and was forced into another showdown for survival this season after again finishing third from bottom.
It marks the end of a bitterly disappointing season for Eriksen, the Denmark star who signed a two-year deal when he . Eriksen captained the side in Paderborn and received commiserations from opposing players before jubilant home supporters stormed the field to celebrate.
Some Paderborn fans used their plastic beer cups to dig up clumps of grass from the field to take home, while the beer-soaked players danced and sang.
D啪enan Pej膷inovi膰 got Wolfsburg off to a great start in the third minute, but Joakim M忙hle was sent off in the 14th with his second yellow card for a foul on Mattes Hansen, just minutes after he got his first for pushing Filip Bilbija over for flicking the ball away.
鈥淗e feels just as bad,鈥� Wolfsburg winger Patrick Wimmer said of M忙hle. 鈥淗e knows what happened probably shouldn鈥檛 have happened. But I don鈥檛 think the whole team should be ganging up on Joakim. He鈥檚 had a fantastic season since coming back from his shoulder injury and done a great job. He was maybe a bit unlucky today but generally you can see the whole team is lacking in energy.鈥�
The sending off arguably changed the course of the game with only Paderborn pushing forward. Bilbija duly equalized in the 39th with a diving header to Calvin Brackelmann鈥檚 header on from a long throw-in.
Sebastian Klaas struck the post around the hour mark and Curda finally made Paderborn鈥檚 pressure count when Wolfsburg鈥檚 defense left him free at the back post to rifle in substitute Sven Michel鈥檚 cross.
Paderborn, a city to the east of Dortmund in the west German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, also earned promotion in 2014 and 2019. Its Bundesliga appearances were brief after finishing last both seasons.
鈥淲e were promoted twice before but we haven’t stayed up, yet. We have to make sure we make good decisions this summer,鈥� Paderborn coach Ralf Kettemann said.
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