Brentford held 1-1 at Wolves after Munetsi thunderbolt
WOLVERHAMPTON, England :Brentford were held to a 1-1 draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers on the Premier League season's final day on Sunday as Marshall Munetsi's sublime strike cancelled out Bryan Mbeumo's first-half goal.
Bournemouth's 2-0 victory over Leicester City meant Brentford were unable to match their best Premier League finish of ninth and ended the season in 10th place, while Wolves dropped two places to finish 16th.
Brentford headed into the match chasing European football, but it was always going to be an uphill task.
Thomas Frank's side needed a win over Wolves and for Brighton to lose to finish eighth, which would have given them a spot in the Conference League if Chelsea had finished seventh and then gone on to win the third-tier European competition next week.
However, both Brighton and Brentford eventually missed out after Chelsea beat Nottingham Forest to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League.
At the Molineux Stadium, Brentford took the lead in the 20th minute through Mbeumo's 20th league goal of the season, with Christian Norgaard cutting the ball back from the right and the Cameroon international firing past keeper Jose Sa.
They came within inches of doubling their lead in the 36th minute after a rapid counter-attack ended with Keane Lewis-Potter through on goal, but his chipped effort floated just over the crossbar.
Wolves also had a few opportunities to score in the opening 45 minutes, with Nelson Semedo and Matheus Cunha both testing Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken from range.
The hosts gradually fought their way back and levelled in the 75th minute through Munetsi, who latched on to a headed pass from Jorgen Strand Larsen and unleashed a spectacular volley which arrowed into the top corner.
"I'm very proud of my players, very proud of the club, very proud of our supporters," said Wolves manager Vitor Pereira, who guided the side out of the relegation zone after taking charge in December.
"And of course we wanted to finish with a win, but it was not possible in a good game with chances for both sides.
"It was a game that we could win but they could win also. However, we lost two positions today and I’m not happy because of this. But I'm very happy with what we did together in the season since we arrived."
