Wolfsburg have the whole of Germany behind them like never before…

dailymail.co.uk ^ | 12 April 2016 | Kit Holden

[Berlin_Freeper]

Wolfsburg have never been this popular. Founded and funded by Volkswagen, this is a club at which the rest of Germany tends to turn up its nose.

Not this week. This week, the Wolves of Lower Saxony are the toast of the Teutonic world. All the old prejudices have been put aside, as Wolfsburg stand 90 minutes away from completing the sensation of the season by knocking Real Madrid out of the Champions League.

'Everyone thought that the second leg in Madrid would just be a free holiday for us,' said Wolfsburg striker Andre Schurrle this week. 'But we shocked the world.'

That they did. Last Wednesday, Dieter Hecking's team delivered their best performance of the season, beating Madrid 2-0 at home and putting themselves within a hair's breadth of history and a place in the semi-finals.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Big David vs Goliath match starting in two hours.

[Berlin_Freeper]

click "Football" tab

[dfwgator]

Real Madrid had their big win in the Classico 2 days earlier, so they played like they had a hangover against Wolfsburg.

Wolfsburg needs to get an away goal to advance, most likely.

[Berlin_Freeper]

3 Reasons why Real Madrid Will Beat Wolfsburg
Bonus:VfL Wolfsburg will be coming into a lions' den that is the Santiago Bernabéu. To the opposing player this stadium is a soul crusher. This is one of the most storied stadiums in football - that's a fact. Real Madrid will feed off the energy tomorrow night at the Bernabéu and use let it loose on Wolfsburg, they won't know what hit them.

Real Madrid widen their pitch ahead of Wolfsburg clash

On Tuesday workers at the stadiu changed the dimensions of play, repainting the lines and washing away the old ones.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai

[sphinx]

I don’t follow European soccer but know some of the team and player names, largely because my daughter’s teammates are often chattering about them. A couple of them are big Real Madrid fans. How does the league structure work? The story references Real Madrid being in danger of being bounced out of the Champions League? I know how relegation works in U.S. youth soccer. Is it the same in big time European soccer? If Real Madrid gets dinged, where do they go and how long does it take for them to play back up?

[Berlin_Freeper]

Zinédine Zidane, Madrid coach:

This is a big match, but you need a cool head to play in it. We are not going to win it in [the first] ten or 15 minutes. It could be more difficult if they score, but that can happen. We must be focused from minute one. We have to score, but we have 90 minutes to do so. We need to be patient.

People want to see their team play well and I'm sure we are going to do that tomorrow. The first-leg result makes it more complicated, but also more exciting. We love our fans because we know how important they are, especially in our stadium. We want them to support us from minute one until the end.

Dieter Hecking, Wolfsburg coach:

We knew we would need two magnificent days to advance in the competition – now we just need one. I think we can do our bit. Real Madrid have to use their legend to beat us at their stadium; they'll have to work very hard. We know what Real Madrid stand for but we also deserve some respect after the first leg.

We don't care that there will be 80,000 fans supporting Real Madrid; we're here to play football. We surprised them in the first leg but this time it will be more difficult. Madrid will try to score as soon as possible. Maybe Zidane will surprise me this time.

[AnalogReigns]

Interesting, this photo of a "training session" looks a lot like a prayer to me....

[Moltke]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League

It’s played by the top teams of the national leagues every year.

If Madrid loses this round, they can try again next year, if they make the national cut (very likely).

[Moltke]

Someone dropped a coin and they’re all looking for it, perhaps?

[Berlin_Freeper]

In the knockout phase they play two games. Each at Home (and thus Away). Wolfsburg won 2-0 at Home. That means Real Madrid need to score at least 3 goals tonight to win. Theoretically RM could win with 2 goals making it even and then the penalty shoot out.More detail here.

[babble-on]

The Champions’ League is a sort of meta-league tournament that takes place every year.

Each nation has its own national top-level A league and then B and C and D leagues below that down to really local levels.

Then each year the champions of the national leagues from the prior year are in the Champions’ League tournament. From the larger countries the Champions’ League will include I think as many as the 4 top teams, so several clubs from Germany France UK Spain Italy Portugal may be in the beginning group play phase of the champions league. They have to play these matches alongside their regular domestic league schedule.

But the great thing about it is that the great teams play eachother across national boundaries. Imagine if College Football in America only played within conferences or within regions, but then there was an interconference national tournament like the NCAA basketball tournament where different styles of play and levels of competition would come into play. That’s why the Champions’ League final is the biggest pro soccer match in Europe every year.

[Calvin Locke]

VW vs. the EPA?

Oh, soccer. Is that all it is?

[Berlin_Freeper]

I found 10 cents yesterday and then could not stop looking down for more.

[Don Corleone]

Z Z is giving them the plan d’vol. They want to win so they are paying rapt attention.

[sphinx]

Thanks. So if I am reading you correctly, the Champions League is, then, just another tournament (albeit a big one), featuring the top teams from each of the national leagues in group play and then knockout rounds, to crown a European Champion.

In other words, if Real Madrid loses tonight, its status for next year does not change. It will be out of this year's tournament earlier than expected, but is eligible for next year's tournament, assuming it again does well in its national league -- as opposed to being relegated to a lower division or league and having to spend a season (or two or three or four) playing its way back up before being eligible to compete for the biggie.

Do European clubs move up and down their respective national league structures? If I organized Spinx's American Hooligans and entered a local, not very good league, and we prospered, could we in time work our way up in the world and play with the biggies? Or do the lower level clubs simply lose their stronger players to higher level teams, with the club itself staying at the same level? Do the top tier teams own the lower league teams, similar to an MLB farm system?

[Berlin_Freeper]

Real Madrid vs. Wolfsburg: Time, Channel & Lineup

[Moltke]

Once you’ve felt the rush of finding that first coin, it’s hard to stop...pretty soon you find yourself owning a metal detector...looking for excuses to walk the streets for just one more hour...fight the urge, man, fight it.

[Moltke]

Yep, and

Do European clubs move up and down their respective national league structures?

Yep.

[Berlin_Freeper]

You are correct about RM and in general. Champions League is the most exciting soccer because you see the best teams in Europe typically with the Biggest Stars play against each other. Then there is Wolfsburg - LoL!

This is game is a big surprise ( that Wolfsburg is up 2-0, burg is fortress) and it is fun to watch RM under such pressure.

In the regular leagues, the top two clubs move up, the bottom two move down. Third from top plays third from the bottom of the higher league to see where they go.