Wolves' Diogo Jota hits Europa League hat-trick to leave Espanyol flailing

Diogo Jota scored his second successive Europa League hat-trick as Wolves surely secured their place in the last 16 of the competition with this convincing first-leg victory.

In a second half adorned with a sublime volley from Rúben Neves, Wolves picked up where they left off in December when Jota’s treble against Besiktas rubber-stamped their place in these knockout stages.

Molineux was in roaring form come kick-off, the Espanyol fans having posted a vocal challenge in their raucous arrival at Birmingham New Street station a couple of hours before kick-off, as Wolves returned to post-Christmas European action for the first time since 1972.

The priority these teams are giving the Europa League was reflected in the changes made for this match: while Wolves made two, reverting to their strongest line-up after successive goalless draws, Espanyol retained only two players from the side that drew 2-2 away to Sevilla on Sunday.

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Bottom of La Liga but defeated once in six games under their new coach, Abelardo Fernández, Espanyol can espy an escape from relegation and were clearly placing Sunday’s game away to Valladolid above this.

Wolves have scored six times in a run of nine games with one win but they started this game full of confidence and at full throttle and merited their 15th-minute lead. With Adama Traoré restored to the right flank, Jota won the nod to stay in the side on the left and soon rewarded Nuno Espírito Santo’s faith.

Wolves, it is fair to say, will have been practising their short-corner routines after Friday’s disallowed goal against Leicester, when Pedro Neto’s heel was offside as he took Jota’s return from a corner. So when Traoré touched the ball back for the recalled João Moutinho, the cross came in promptly and Jota reacted slickly to Raúl Jiménez’s flick-on to volley the ball home from behind him.

Rúben Neves was at it again, smashing a volley from the edge of the area into the top corner.



Rúben Neves was at it again, smashing a volley from the edge of the area into the top corner. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA

It was a neat finish from a man who had not scored in two months since claiming a hat-trick in the final group game against Besiktas.

After Facundo Ferreyra had missed an open opportunity to equaliser, goalkeeper Rui Patrício making a total hash of volleying what he feared would be deemed a backpass, Jota almost earned Wolves another goal.

As he and Ander Iturraspe grappled irritably after a throw-in and nuzzled foreheads, the visiting midfielder clearly butted Jota. Somehow, the referee, Tobias Stieler, even after awaiting VAR’s confirmation in his ear piece, only cautioned Iturraspe.

Either side of this clash, Traoré twice sprinted towards goal only to see his first shot saved and his second fly over the crossbar.

A goal of technical perfection appeared to settle this first leg seven minutes into the second half. Rúben Neves does not score that many goals but when he does, they tend to be spectacular. When Traoré collected the ball deep and out wide and simply ran at Dídac Vilà down the right before crossing towards the far post, Victor Gomez could not have suspected what was to follow as he headed to what he hoped was safety.

Neves got in front of his man, chested the ball gently down and unleashed such an aesthetically pleasing volley that many Wolves fans were on their feet celebrating even before the ball reached the back of the net. That made it 11 goals from outside the area out of 15 in his third season at Molineux.

Wolves could even afford to take off Traoré, who recently dislocated his shoulder, before Jota seemed to make the tie safe with another superbly executed goal midway through the half. Matt Doherty played a one-two with substitute Leandro Dendoncker before threading a fine through pass for Jota to hold off Gomez and blast home at the near post.

source: theguardian.com