Wolfsburg seal Bundesliga survival in Braunschweig.

Wolfsburg ensured that they will play in a 21st consecutive Bundesliga season after completing a 2-0 aggregate victory over neighbours Eintracht Braunschweig in the relegation play-off on Monday night.

Eintracht Braunschweig 0-1 Wolfsburg (agg: 0-2)

Goals: 0-1 Vieirinha (49')

Red card: Sauer (82')

The Lions looked determined to show their teeth and made much the brighter start at the Eintracht-Stadion, although Christoffer Nyman's early effort from close range lacked bite and was comfortably gathered by Koen Casteels. A casual observer would never have guessed that Wolfsburg's 20-year Bundesliga status was on the line, and the visitors finally deigned to have a first real attempt on goal in the 34th minute, as Yannick Gerhardt forced Jasmin Fejzic into palming the ball behind for a corner. Braunschweig captain Ken Reichel then had a golden chance to put the hosts ahead after being played in by Nyman, but ballooned his effort over the bar as the local rivals went in goalless at the break.

Vieirinha chose the perfect moment to score his first Wolfsburg goal since December 2015.

The key moment arrived four minutes after the break, as Yunus Malli forced a good stop from Fejzic and Vieirinha made the most of the keeper being out of position to thunder home the purest of strikes on the rebound. Wolfsburg had their all-important away goal, and it took all the wind out of Braunschweig's sails as they barely threatened for the rest of the game. The visitors went from strength to strength and had various chances to add gloss to the scoreline, with Malli going close and Luiz Gustavo contriving to fire over with the goal gaping. The Wolves held on and will be back for another Bundesliga season in 2017/18, while the Lions will be left to wonder what might have been.

Match Stats

The Bundesliga side have now maintained their top-flight status seven out of nine times since the play-off was reintroduced in 2009.Vieirinha scored his first competitive goal for Wolfsburg in 538 days, since netting against Manchester United in December 2015. The Wolves scored just 20 goals in 18 games on their Bundesliga travels in 2016/17.

Line-ups

Eintracht Braunschweig: Fejzic – Sauer, Decarli, Valsvik, Reichel (c) – Omladic, Schönfeld (Abdullahi 58'), Boland, Hochscheidt (Hernandez 58') – Nyman, Khelifi (Tietz 79') Coach: Torsten Lieberknecht

Wolfsburg: Casteels – Träsch, Wollscheid, Knoche, Gerhardt – Luiz Gustavo (c), Guilavogui – Didavi (Arnold 78'), Malli, Vieirinha (Dejagah 68') – Gomez Coach: Andries Jonker