Wolves 4 Espanyol 0: Diogo Jota hat-trick and Ruben Neves strike virtually seals place in Europa League last-16
DIOGO JOTA was in hat-trick heaven as he virtually secured Wolves a place in the Europa League last-16 after they served-up a 4-0 thrashing to Espanyol.
And Ruben Neves failed miserably in his latest mission to score a scrappy goal for Wolves – not that anyone in Gold and Black cared.
Nuno Espirito Santo had warned against complacency ahead of this potential banana skin last-32 tie against La Liga’s Jekyll and Hyde club.
Espanyol’s European pedigree wasn’t in doubt. They were unbeaten in their previous 13 away ties in Europe and had suffered just one defeat against non-Spanish opposition in their last 26 European games.
Domestically however, it’s been a car crash season for the Catalans, who are currently rooted to the foot of La Liga – 20th out of 20 – and on their THIRD coach of a disastrous campaign!
So were the Spanish strugglers wolves in lamb’s clothing – or just lambs to the slaughter?
The first hint came after 15 minutes when Jota grabbed the early breakthrough goal Wolves craved.
Traore played a short corner to Joao Moutinho who whipped over a typically precise delivery to Raul Jimenez who flicked the ball on at the near post.
Jota was quicker to react than his marker Victor Sanchez and hooked a right foot shot which clipped the Espanyol skipper on its way into the net.
Although some agencies tried to ‘credit,’ Sanchez with a no own goal, Jota’s shot went in a good yard inside the far post and took the faintest of touches off his opponent.
The Portuguese predator was in no doubt he had just bagged his seventh Europa League goal of the campaign amid frenzied celebrations from supporters.
Espanyol, roared on by 1,000 travelling fans, did their best to hang in there and came close on three occasions when their Chinese forward Wu Lei had a hat-trick of headers which worried Rui Patricio.
There was also a bizarre scare when Raul Jimenez sliced an attempted clearance high into the air and Patricio had two slapstick attempts to clear before finally getting it right with a stunning one-handed save to deny Ferreyra four yards out!
But this was Wolves night.
Jota added a third after 67 minutes when Doherty and Dendoncker worked a 1-2 and p[played in the striker who held off Gomez before slamming the ball home.
His hat-trick clinching goal was even better as he ran Espanyol’s defence ragged before drilling a low shot beyond Prieto from the edge of the box.
It was the perfect response to Spanish nutter Ander Iturraspe who somehow escaped a red card just before half-time when he butted Jota, but was only shown yellow.
However it was the Spaniards who left Molineux nursing a massive headache long before full-time.