Wolves 2 Torino 1 (5-3 on aggregate) – Europa League report and pictures
Wolves reached the Europa League group stages with a 5-3 aggregate win over Italian side Torino.
Raul Jimenez gave Wolves a first-half lead when he netted his seventh goal of the season from Adama Traore's cross.
Andrea Belotti pulled one back shortly after half-time but Leander Dendoncker restored Wolves' advantage just a minute later when he side-footed home a rebound from Diogo Jota's saved shot.
Both teams had chances late on but Wolves saw it through for a fairly comfortable victory.
Analysis
Six Europa League qualifiers played, six victories registered and 19 goals scored.
It may have disrupted their pre-season preparations a tad and maybe got in the way of their early league fixtures, but when Wolves look this good in Europe it's surely just a small price to pay, writes Tim Spiers at Molineux.
Nuno Espirito Santo's team breezed past minnows Crusaders and Pyunik but in Torino they were offered a stern test, with last season's seventh-placed Serie A side capable of derailing their European adventure.
However, Wolves made mincemeat – or should that be bolognese – of the Italians, whose hopes of winning were pasta joke without their finishing boots.
To be fair, Torino pushed Wolves close over the two legs. If they'd scored the opening goal in Turin instead of hitting the bar, or made their early pressure count at Molineux here, or made it 5-4 on aggregate with one of their two late chances, it could have been a different story.
Wolves, though, fully deserved their hard-earned victory. They weren't at their best here, but they were both professional and clinical and also managed the game better than they had in Turin, as per Nuno's pre-match request. They could also rely, once again, on the heroics of Adama Traore (four assists) and Raul Jimenez (seven goals) who, along with Rui Patricio and Willy Boly, have made exceptional starts to the campaign.
The likes of Roma, Porto, PSV, Sevilla and Lazio lie in wait for tomorrow's draw.
Who knows where this wonderful Wolves journey will take us next, but on this showing there could be plenty more special nights ahead in Europe this season. Who would have said that two years ago?
Match report
Nuno reverted to the XI which had won 3-2 in Turin a week earlier, except Jonny Castro Otto came in for the bench Ruben Vinagre. Matt Doherty, as in Turin, wasn't included in the squad.
