Podence knows the score after training ground terror
DANIEL PODENCE knows full well the pain of defeat.
But if Wolves suffer a final-day reversal at Chelsea this afternoon at least the Portuguese winger, 24 (below) won’t suffer the brutal fall-out he did two years ago.
The pacy playmaker was training with his hometown club, Sporting Lisbon, when the consequences of losing were brought too close to home.
Masked intruders claiming to be supporters stormed the training base, leaving head coach Jorge Jesus with blood pouring from his nose and mouth, striker Bas Dost with a cut head and keeper Rui Patricio scared for his life.
The crime of Podence and his fellow players? A failure to qualify for the Champions League following an unexpected 2-1 defeat to Maritimo.
In the trial that followed, Patricio – who moved to Wolves straight afterwards – said: “We didn’t know if they were coming to kill us – but they came with everything. They told us to take our shirts off – they said, ‘We’re ashamed of you’.” Podence left for Olympiakos before joining Wolves in January. He said: “It was unbelievably scary. It is too heavy to explain in words. “If you lose or draw and end up being afraid to go home or to walk the streets, it’s very difficult to live in this kind of world. “We were afraid of doing anything. One month later I went to Greece. Going to another country was good for me. It relaxed me. I could forget anything on that field.” Podence took time to settle at Molineux but showed his worth with his first goal for the club during the midweek victory over Crystal Palace.
As for life in Wolverhampton, he said: “It’s been difficult with Covid but I have my girlfriend Kayra and my dog, a Boston Terrier – Dogui. I didn’t know what this name meant in English!” Daniel Podence is smiling again. After what he’s been through, it is difficult to begrudge him that.