The football was largely forgettable, but the experience will live forever.
Travelling to Barcelona to watch Wolves play a game of football was always going to be a surreal journey, with League One reminiscing and head-scratching aplenty as we skip around Las Ramblas.
A far cry from us shuffling down Waterloo Road in arctic conditions on any given Saturday afternoon in a seemingly endless tale of Championship failure.
A dose of Spanish sun to warm the soul must be the perfect present for years of travail and in going along for the ride, I only wish every fan could have been here.
If this fixture didn’t quite bring out the best in our players, it did our fans, who reminded me why we’re such a special bunch and deserving of times like these.
From the airport to the bars around the city – and everywhere in between – a feeling of camaraderie enveloped me like medicine for my occasionally troubled soul.
Humble, humorous fans in their droves, making me smile for what felt like the duration of the trip, mingling comedy with courtesy with a sprinkling of Black Country wit.
I’d wager that each and every one of us cherished the experience more for the wrinkles etched through years of disappointment. For certain, none of us took a single step for granted as we know events like these don’t come around often.
I just wish every one of the Wolves brethren were present, as they deserved to feel this too.
Maybe this was all part of the plan, when false dawns and laughing stocks were defined by gold and black?
It bloody chafed at times, didn’t it? But throw those curtains wide my friends. One day like this a year has seen me right.
Lots of big teams out and still Wolves go marching on.
Fantastic to be through but a poor performance especially in defence .
Kilman had his worst game and MGW I am afraid is not yet up to this level .
As to the complaint about Espanyol selling tickets to Wolves fans in the home sections they must be having a laugh as I had at least 50 Espanyol fans in the seats behind me in the Billy Wright stand last week which must have been sold by the club as they were all in one section .
Yep I was there last week and the Espanyol fans in the Billy Quiet were making a tidy racket while they were still in the game!
What a miss by Neto!
We’ll have to rename him Pedro Net?-No!
A bit of a Curate’s egg performance by a much changed team, but we did enough to win an entertaining game of football.
I thought that Kilman looked a bit nervous and didn’t have his best game for us and Willy Boly was a bit off the boil too.
Otherwise, another decent away European result which puts us into the last 16 of a European competition…
… and Dreamland, compared with the nightmare we all lived through only a few short seasons ago.
Overall, I guess, we did what we needed to do and if we’d needed the win, I’m sure we would have done enough to get it.
Our performance had a laissez-faire, lackadaisical air about it from the word go, and if you start off that way, it’s almost impossible to shake yourself out of it. This, of course, was personified in Pedro’s incredible miss but was running through the whole team in the background. Shame for the vocal Wolves fans who made themselves heard throughout the game, but I’m sure they, like I, will take reaching the last 16 as ample compensation.
A word on Diminutive Dan who shower great composure on the ball, especially around the box, and looked like he’ll be a very useful addition to our armoury as we fight for a top four finish.
Basically agree with all the comments here . MGW bang average and was guilty of giving the ball away in midfield which lead to their first goal . Killman a little too naïve for my liking….you just don’t raise your foot in the penalty box . What was he thinking !
On the positive I thought Danny Boy was excellent . Showed real pace and determination and I can see him fitting into our system from the get go.
Onwards and upwards …feeling very nervous about the draw…cant wait…hope we get either Rangers or anyone else except for Man U.
Could well be that if we draw Inter, it will be played behind closed doors. Although with the rapid spread of Covid19 that we’re seeing, that could apply to anywhere we may draw.
And if it spreads as quickly and is as fatal as the social media alarmists are telling us, we’ll ALL be dead by the time of the next round!
Gibbs White one for the future, but not the future of Wolves.
Adama had his worst game for ages.
Kilman not quite ready.
Podence a constant thorn.
The big positive from this game, apart from obviously going through, is that it showed Nuno our best starting team is, and this wasn’t it.
Saiss proved his class by being sorely missed, Vinagre still not a full back in my opinion.
I had to loff, though, their bloke scored a hat trick and finished on the losing team!
Arsenal or Celtic, anyone?
Oh, that’s right, the top Scottish club and one of the so called top six in England, are out!!
Shame, ay it?
Had a feeling we might not be on it last night. Game already nearly a dead rubber, much changed team and half empty ground, all a bit unreal.
But after battling back – again – very disappointing to give it away.
Don’t blame Neto too much for the miss as I thought he did excellently to create the chance. Dan looks a really interesting signing. Personal opinion – but I thought Gibbs-White did ok.
Got a feeling that this draw will throw up some form of coincidental factor. Maybe Olympiakos return for Dan, a return to the Mol for Solbakken and Copenhagen, battle of El Lupo against Wolfsburg? Not Man Utd again though please.
Olympiakos next round. Certainly winnable and a lovely place to visit too.
Athens, yes. Piraeus less so.
Happy with that
Home for the second leg
Utw
Bring on Olympiacos. I just had my tooth pulled by my Greek dentist at 12pm so it must be an omen.
Look after that tooth mate.
If you lose it, it might come back to bite you in the Acropolis.
And, it should have been 2.30!
I think most people have come to the realization that MGW should not be playing for Wolves.
A couple years ago, it seemed like a logical plan to have him practice with the senior team, get some game time in and eventually he would become a regular at the senior team level.
Now, it seems that that approach has failed and maybe it is time to send him somewhere to develop where he can get more game time and put some pressure on him to win a first team role. Or just sell him – we have moved on and maybe he is like Bonatini. No longer good enough.
As for the referee Thursday, I’m not sure he was paying attention. Wasn’t one of the reasons for VAR to allow them to review players falling to the pitch to see if it was simulation? Why was that not used when it was obvious players from the other team were trying to get one of our players sent off.
I guess it’s better that we lose this game than the next game. We can look at is as saving a win for the Premier League competition.
I think with the Neto miss, he thought he knew where the net was but his bearing were messed up in the process of getting around the goalie.
When he finally got to the ball, he didn’t realize that his bearings were now wrong and he focused solely on making contact with the ball and putting it where he thought the net was.
Should have taken a peek to make sure but I think he was 100% convinced that he knew where it was.
Happy to be through. Footballs a game of ‘ifs’. If Neto had scored we would have won. If we hadn’t got a 4 goal lead we’d have played a stronger line-up. If we’d have needed a result we’d have got one against a fairly mundane opposition. Not worried about losing – progressing was the name of the game. 2 assists for Podence was a real bonus.
Here is a comment that is more directed at Jeff than everyone else so you can just skip it if you are not him.
If Nuno is going to only want Portuguese players, why are Wolves spending so much money on an increased scouting staff?
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just have scouts looking at Portuguese players that have been identified as possibilities?
I think we should start a go fund me for Tim, so he can go buy himself a life, coz he sure aint got one right now!
Jeez!
Not being a season ticket holder,I’ve not been to a game since semi final of the fa. Cup..
Not got sky or by sport so didn’t get to see this game.
Beginning to feel on the outside looking in but I’d take that for all the years of misery we’ve had to endure. What Nuno has done in such a short time must put him up there with some of football historys greats..still pinching myself.. onwards and upwards boys!
The way I see it, we started the game with Espanyol needing to score 5 goals to go through, and ended the game with them still needing to score 4. I call that job done. Not exactly a close call, was it. Sorry if I’m not surprised or upset that the players didn’t bust a gut to do more. This game was *totally* over before it even started. Virtually pointless and in my opinion, perfectly managed by Nuno and the players. It was a training session.
Lots of positives: We’re through to the last 16, Podence looking good and finding his feet, no injuries or red cards, some reserves got a good run out, some first teamers got a good rest ahead of Sunday, and the fans who made it there seem to have had a lot of fun. Good stuff.
The result on the night was immaterial, and honestly flatters them. Had Neto put his chance away it could easily have been the reverse, and their winner was at the death of the game when quite frankly, the team had already switched off (I had), moved on, and started celebrations.
Paella over. Let’s get some Gyros!
Go Wolves!!!
Just back from Barcelona – one of the lucky ones to have experienced a wonderful few days with good friends and made some new ones.
Have to agree with Ben this has to be the latest pinnacle of following Wolves, I am sure there will be many more in coming years, we have a great foundation to work on and importantly we have respect from other Premier teams, their fans and pundits alike rather than the laughing stock we were in our previous premier outings – what a magnificent whirlwind the last few years have been, long may that continue
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Sitting in my hotel room ready for our flight back to Birmingham tomorrow night, another great 4 days Europa league style, but in the Barcelona sun this time.
Met Ben on the way out from Brum, joined on the trip by Mr& Mrs Lowves, heard from Bedford Wolf who wanted a beer but we never linked up, (Soz Dave) met some fantastic people along the trip and had a great time all round.
2 hours after the draw, we were booked up for Olympiakos, 4 nights 4 star Wyndam hotel, flights from Brum, Athens city centre, £275 each. Flippin bargain of the competition.
Match didn’t matter one bit, we did all we needed to do, and as Clive always points out, in three years time the only thing we will read is Wolves won 6-3 on aggregate on the way to the Gdansk final in 2020.
Overall I am glad I went but it’s not an experience I I would rush to repeat in all honesty.
My one and only previous away game in Europe was the second leg of the 1972 UEFA Cup final at Spurs which as a 15 year old living just up the road wasn’t quite the same as a trip to Barca.
I enjoyed the flights which were full of Wolves fans as was my hotel and Wolves fans were everywhere – in the shops, the bars, the cafes. I didn’t enjoy the trek to the ticket collection point – who chose a venue so far out of the centre of the city?
I enjoyed the pre-match atmosphere sitting outside at a tapas bar in the Plaza España for about three hours eating tapas and drinking red wine surrounded by hundreds of other Wolves fans. I teamed up with three Wolves fans from my hotel who all came from Belfast so most of the time I couldn’t make out what they were saying? And boy could they drink! I didn’t enjoy the game much and definitely didn’t enjoy being treated like an animal by the local police and stewards at the ground. I don’t appreciate being frogmarched through the streets like a criminal or being put into several holding pens like a sheep nor the endless security checks and sniffer dogs. I only went to watch a football match.
So glad I went but never again – though I might be persuaded to make an exception for Gda?sk. Maybe.
OODCL