WOLVES AVOID A SPANISH KO TO WIN ON POINTS
WOLVES progressed to the last 16 of the Europa League as expected – but still made hard work of it.
Espanyol boss Abelardo Fernandez had called for a ‘knockout punch’ from his La Liga side after seeing them thumped 4-0 at Molineux.
The haymaker did not come but the Spaniards, who are fighting relegation and who made eight changes from Sunday’s defeat at Valladolid, threw a few hefty punches before hitting the canvas.
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The odds were stacked against Espanyol before a ball had even been kicked. In the history of the competition, only twice out of 221 occasions had a side taking a lead of four goals or more into a second leg ended up not going through.
Even when they took the lead in the 16th minute through former West Ham striker
Jonathan Calleri, it seemed no 63% 040% more than a minor irritation to a Wolves side without a number of their big-hitters.
And if Abelardo and his men had dared to dream they were quickly brought back to reality when Adama Traore levelled just six minutes later. Traore reacted quickly when his first shot was blocked and rammed the ball home with his second attempt.
Espanyol hit back again and took the lead in the 56th minute when Max Kilman was guilty of a clumsy challenge in the penalty area on David Lopez. Up stepped Calleri, who made no mistake from the spot.
But it was never going to be enough to affect the outcome, even more so when Matt Doherty thumped home an 80th-minute equaliser for Wolves. Daniel Podence found Doherty with a cross and the Republic of Ireland international blasted the ball into the roof of the net.
Wolves substitute Pedro Neto should have won it when he went round keeper Andres Prieto, but shot wide of an open goal.
And that left Calleri the opportunity to turn matchwinner – hollow victory that it was – with a close-range shot right on 90 minutes to complete his hat-trick.
Wolves are to complain that Espanyol sold tickets in the ‘home’ end to travelling fans, resulting in a skirmish just before half-time. Four arrests were made. 37%
ESPANYOL: Prieto 6, Pedrosa 6 Na0ldo 6, Calero 6, Gomez 7, Da0rder 6 (Wu 68, 6), David 7, Sanchez 6 (Lozano 61, 6), Melendo 6 (Pipa 75, 7), Calleri 8, Vargas 6 WOLVES: Patricio 6, Kilman 6, Coady 7, Boly 6, Doherty 7, Dendoncker 6, Gibbs-white 6 (Neto 63, 7), Moutinho 7, Vinagre 6 (Saiss 57, 6), Traore 7 (Jordao 79, 7), Podence 8 REFEREE: Marco Guida (Italy)