Wolfsburg turns to Labbadia in relegation fight

BERLIN: Wolfsburg on Tuesday appointed Bruno Labbadia as their new head coach in their fight to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga. The 52-year-old Labbadia has stepped in after Martin Schmidt resigned from the 2015 German Cup winners on Monday after just five months in the job. Under Swiss coach Schmidt, Wolfsburg won just five of their last 22 matches to leave them 14th and just a point from the relegation places in the German league table. Labbadia, who has coached at Stuttgart, Hamburg and Leverkusen in Germany’s top flight, has experience of winning relegation battles. The former striker kept Hamburg up in 2015-16, but was later dismissed after starting the 2016-17 season with a draw and four straight league defeats.