JOTA TREBLE JOY FOR WOLVES
The Portuguese striker bagged a treble just as he had done in the last game against Besiktas.
Jota proved the difference against an Espanyol side who made a good fist of things for about an hour, though Ruben Neves’ 52nd-minute screamer was the pick of the goals.
Wolves got themselves in front early against a much-changed Espanyol side. The Spaniards are in a dire position, sitting bottom of La Liga, and clearly see Sunday’s clash with fellow relegation candidates Real Valladolid as a far bigger priority.
They made nine changes and, when Wolves went ahead in the 15th minute, there was a real chance of them putting this tie to bed with time to spare. But if Nuno Espirito Santo, right, and his side were planning on a cakewalk into the last 16, Espanyol put up stubborn resistance for quite some time.
Jota cashed in at the far post after Raul Jimenez had flicked the ball across and, though his first-time volley did strikeVictor Sanchez on its way in, the Wolves man was quite rightly credited with it. The visitors seemed undeterred and should have gone level when Rui Patricio got himself in a pickle trying to deal with a hashed sliced clearance from Jimenez.
The keeper missed two attempts to hack it clear, but rescued himself by blocking Facundo Ferreyra’s closerange shot. Espanyol were certainly showing fight but Ander Iturraspe managed to escape a VAR review with nothing more than a caution for pushing his head into Jota’s forehead. Lei Wu went close with a header for the visitors, who were pushing for an equaliser when Neves flattened them with as sweet a strike as you could hope to see.
There did not look to be anything on when Adama Traore’s clearance was headed out by Matias Vargas, but Neves had other ideas.
The midfielder waited for it to drop out of the sky, took it on his chest before belting the ball home from 30 yards. Two goals was never going to be enough but, when Jota scored his second of the night in the 67th minute, it became a case of how many.
Matt Doherty threaded a beautiful pass towards the angle of the sixyard box and Jota did the rest, thumping a right-footed shot into the roof of the net. He wasn’t finished, capping off a great night by completing his treble with a perfectly-struck low shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards. WOLVES (3-4-3): Patricio 7; Boly 7, Coady 7, Saiss 7; Doherty 7, Neves 8, Moutinho 7, Jonny 7; Traore 7 (Dendoncker 61, 6), Jimenez 7 (Neto 75), Jota 9 (Podence 83). Goals: Jota 15, 67, 81, Neves 52.
ESPANYOL (4-4-2): Prieto 6; Gomez 6 (Darder 75), Calero 6, Naido 7, Didac Vila 6; Vargas 6, Iturraspe 5 (Lopez 61, 6), Sanchez 6, Melendo 6 (Calleri 61, 5); Ferreyra 6, Wu 7 (Embarba 72).