Champions League runners-up to relegation dogfight in two years…
With over half of the Bundesliga season having gone Borussia Dortmund sit bottom of the table following an embarrassing home defeat to 10-man Augsburg.
With the club having rightly putting all hope of continental qualification out of their mind there is a very real threat the Champions League runners-up of two years ago and last 16 contenders this year could be relegated to the second tier.
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Here are five other teams who people thought were ‘too good to go down’:
West Ham 2002/03
The Hammers were going through somewhat of a golden age in their youth production but they couldn’t prevent their relegation.
Jermain Defoe, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson were all coming through at Upton Park and mixed with the experience of Paolo Di Canio, Freddie Kanoute and Les Ferdinand, yet they were relegated to the second tier after finishing on 42 points under Trevor Brooking.Middlesbrough 1996/97
A truly heart-wrenching season for the Teessiders who had a side which contained 31-goal Fabrizio Ravanelli along with Brazilians Emerson and Juninho. They reached the finals of the League Cup and FA Cup, both of which they lost, and were relegated by the three point margin which they were deducted for cancelling a December fixture at Blackburn Rovers when 26 of their players were injured or ill.
Juventus 2005/06
Although the team didn’t get relegated because of their performances, they actually finished top of Serie A. Juventus were actually dumped into Serie B due to match fixing charges and stripped of their last two titles.
Their demotion prompted an exodus of players in which Zlatan Ibrahomovic, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluca Zambrotta walked, whereas Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved and Alessandro Del Piero stayed put.
Newcastle United 2008/09
Newcastle United dropped out of the select group of clubs never to be relegated from the Premier League when they finished in the bottom three under Tyneside’s favourite son, Alan Shearer.
A Damien Duff own goal against Aston Villa was enough to consign the Magpies to their miserable fate.
Leeds United 2003/04
In 2001 Leeds United were playing against Valencia in a Champions League semi-final and chairman Peter Ridsdale gambled with the club’s future as he risked huge sums of money on future European success.
Unfortunately for the Whites this never came to fruition as they failed to qualify for two years and the financial misnomers caught up with them.