EPIC ADVENTURE No easy ride as Wolves’ journey goes on
WOLVES moved into the last 16 but it wasn’t quite as easy as many expected.
Espanyol boss Abelardo Fernandez called for a knockout punch of epic proportions after seeing his side thumped 4-0 in the first leg.
The haymaker did not come but his side threw a few punches before they hit the canvas.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo admits he is powerless to manage the rising expectations as his side could be on the verge of something special.
Nuno said: “It’s impossible, my job is this squad. How can I manage outside expectations? We are on the journey, we focus on our daily process, which is train Friday and Saturday and then we will travel to play Tottenham.
“It’s massive for the club and city. We are happy and we want to keep going.
“The gel between the players is amazing but we have to keep on going.” The odds were massively stacked (above) from DAVE ARMITAGE
WOLVES WIN 6-3 ON AGG
against the Spaniards before a ball had been kicked.
In the history of the competition and its forerunner the UEFA Cup, only twice out of 221 occasions had a side taking a lead of four goals or more into a second leg not gone through.
Even when Espanyol took the lead in the 16th minute through former West Ham striker Jonathan Calleri, it seemed no more than a minor irritation to a Wolves side without a number of their big hitters. If Abelardo and his men had dared to dream, they were quickly brought crashing back to reality when Adama Traore levelled things up just six minutes later.
Credit to Espanyol, they kept going and took the lead again in the 57th minute when Max Kilman brought down David Lopez for a penalty. Up stepped Calleri, who took barely any run up before slotting home.
Eleven minutes from the end Wolves drew level thanks to full-back Matt Doherty.
Daniel Podence capped off a lively display with his second assist of the night, finding Doherty with a low cross for the Republic of Ireland star to blast the ball into the roof of the net. Sub Pedro Neto should have clinched a
Wolves victory two minutes from time when he won a race to the ball, bypassed goalkeeper Andres Prieto and was left with an open goal but passed it wide.
And that left Calleri the opportunity to turn match-winner on 90 minutes to complete his hat-trick.
Wolves are expected to express their concerns that Espanyol sold tickets in the ‘home’ end to travelling fans.
There was a minor skirmish and it is believed four arrests were made.
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