Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Brentford’s mid-season friendly against Wolfsburg.

The Opposition

Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg really hit their straps in the weeks before the World Cup pause, reeling off four straight league wins to move up to seventh in the Bundesliga.

It was a very slow start to the season for Niko Kovac’s side, who won only one of their first seven Bundesliga games.

However, a 90th-minute Yannick Gerhardt winner against Stuttgart in early October signalled a change in fortunes for Vfl. It began a nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions which has seen the Wolves steadily climb the table. 

Goals have flowed - 21 of them in their last nine matches to be precise. The goals have been well distributed around the squad with 11 different scorers; former Manchester City youngster Lukas Nmecha their top marksman with four. 

The left side has been a profitable area for VfL with left-back Paulo Otavio providing four assists from left-back while 20-year-old winger Jakub Kaminski has three.

At the back, Koen Casteels has played every minute in goal as has 21-year-old centre-back Micky van de Ven.

Van de Ven is one of a number of young players making a name for themselves in the third youngest squad in the Bundesliga; 23-year-old Omar Marmoush; 22-year-old Felix Nmecha; 24-year-old Ridle Baku; and 22-year-old Mattias Svanberg all starting at least 13 Bundesliga games.

Team News

All of Brentford’s World Cup players are now back at Jersey Road following their exploits in Qatar. 

Aaron Hickey (ankle), Thomas Strakosha (ankle) and Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) continue to work towards fitness while Pontus Jansson, Charlie Goode and Rico Henry could all play their first minutes of the mid-season friendly programme tomorrow. 

The Manager

Niko Kovac

Niko Kovac was appointed Wolfsburg manager in May, returning to the league where he enjoyed success as both a player and manager.

He won the Bundesliga title and DFK-Pokal as both a player, in 2002/03, and manager, in 2018/19, with Bayern Munich.

He also won an Austrian Bundesliga title as a player with Red Bull Salzburg in 2007 and led Eintracht Frankfurt to consecutive DFK-Pokal finals in 2017 and 2018, winning the latter.

For Croatia, Kovac played, and captained, at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. He retired in 2009 with 83 caps and 14 goals for his nation.

Kovac also managed Croatia to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, winning a two-legged play-off against Iceland in his first two games in charge. Croatia beat Cameroon 4-0 in their opening game at the finals but then lost 3-1 to Brazil and Mexico to exit in the group stages.

In total, Kovac made more than 650 competitive appearances as a player, for club and country, scoring 82 goals. He also has a 55 per cent win percentage as a manager, following his spells with Croatia U21, Croatia, Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and Monaco.

Match Coverage

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 1pm and will be streamed live on brentfordfc.com