Brentford’s latest pre-season test ended in a 4-0 defeat to VfL Wolfsburg.

Sebastiaan Bornauw, Jonas Wind and Jakub Kaminski all found the net during a challenging second half. Patrick Wimmer had opened the scoring during the first 45 minutes.

We lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, with Frank Onyeka the deepest of a midfield trio alongside Josh Dasilva and Mathias Jensen.

It was we who started the brighter in the German sunshine. In the sixth minute, Ivan Toney connected with Bryan Mbeumo’s cross from the right, but Wolfsburg ‘keeper Koen Casteels was well placed to palm Toney’s header away.

The hosts burst into life ten minutes later. First, Ridle Baku cut in from the right and unleashed a low, left-footed drive that David Raya stooped down to collect.

Omar Marmoush looked destined to score three minutes later but Mads Bech showed great anticipation to get across and make a block inside the area. It was Lukas Nmecha – formerly of Manchester City – who got to the loose ball first. He steadied himself and aimed for the bottom-right corner, but Raya was again at hand to keep the score level.

Wolfsburg had been knocking on the door and they made their momentum count shortly before the half-hour mark. When a corner kick evaded Raya at the front post, the ball broke kindly for Wimmer on the edge of the area who, with the outside of his boot, fired through the crowd and into the far corner.

Micky van den Ven scooped over the crossbar on 33 minutes – following a corner kick – as Wolfsburg went in search of a second goal.

Our best chance of the opening 45 minutes came just before the break, when Toney’s through ball cut open the Wolfsburg backline. Yoane Wissa latched on to the pass and advanced towards goal, but he rolled past Casteels and narrowly wide of the base of the post.

Wissa was also responsible for the first opportunity after the interval; his long-range effort was pushed around the post by Casteels on 54 minutes. Toney then headed just wide from the resultant corner.

Two minutes later and it was 2-0 Wolfsburg as Maximilian Arnold’s whipped corner was met by the head of Bornauw inside the six-yard box.

We had the ball in the back of Wolfsburg’s net on 63 minutes. Mbeumo’s cross from deep was met beautifully by Toney for a first-time finish, but the linesman’s flag was up to deny our No. 17.

Three minutes later and Wolfsburg added a third as Wind headed home an in-swinging corner at the front post.

A series of substitutions midway through the second half disrupted the flow of the game.

On 86 minutes, Kaminski robbed Jensen on the edge of the area and poked past Raya for the fourth and final goal of the afternoon.

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels, Bornauw, van den Ven (Fischer 70), Waldschmidt (Kaminski 45), Kruse (Wind 45), Nmecha (Bialek 61), Baku (Otavio 70), Arnold (Vranckx 70), Marmoush (Svanberg 45), Franjic (Guilavogui 70), Wimmer (Paredes 70)

Scorers: Wimmer (26), Bornauw (56), Wind (66), Kaminski (86)


Brentford: Raya, Hickey (Roerslev 76), Jansson (Crama 76), Bech, Henry (Stevens 76), Onyeka (Janelt 62), Jensen, Dasilva (Baptiste 71), Wissa (Lewis-Potter 62), Toney, Mbeumo (Dervisoglu 76)

Referee: Felix Bickel