Europa League: Espanyol 3 Wolves 2 (3-6 agg) – Report and pictures

Having gone into the RCDE Stadium encounter 4-0 up from the Molineux meeting, Nuno Espirito Santo's side were downed 3-2 on the night – but won 6-3 on aggregate.

A Jonathan Calleri hat-trick pleased struggling Espanyol but Wolves, who had Adama Traore and Matt Doherty find the net, are on cloud nine after moving one step closer to Europa glory.

Analysis

So, Wolves are through to the last 16 of the Europa League – just let that sink in for a second.

Having got past Espanyol, focus now turns to tomorrow's draw (12pm UK time), when fans will find out their next destination in what has been a thrilling tour of the continent, writes Joe Edwards in Barcelona.

And Nuno's men will not be fearing anybody, although this was not their most free-flowing performance.

Having such a healthy lead from the first leg, it was somewhat of a strange dynamic for Wolves – whether to stick or twist.

They found themselves caught in two minds for a fair amount of the night, too, with Calleri capitalising and grabbing a hat-trick.

But Wolves' passage to the next phase of the competition never felt under great threat.

Supporters got their first real look at Daniel Podence, and he impressed with two assists – setting up Traore and Doherty in each half.

Doherty was lively throughout as he gets back to his best, too.

Not a classic game, but the occasion and advancement will live long in the memory of Wolves' followers, who are dreaming of going to Gdansk for the final.

Match report

Podence made his first start for Wolves following his £17million move from Olympiakos in January, in a team showing five changes from last weekend's 3-0 league win against Norwich.

Morgan Gibbs-White – in the XI for the first time since returning from a back issue – Max Kilman, Ruben Vinagre and Traore were the others who came in.

Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota, with one eye on Sunday's game at Tottenham, were given a rest as they were left out of the matchday squad.

Espanyol, with La Liga survival still the priority, made eight changes from their last match, a 2-1 defeat against Real Valladolid.

The Wolves faithful – who entered the RCDE Stadium after sampling the Spanish sunshine, and a fair few of the city's bars – were in full voice an hour before the game even kicked off.

More than 2,000 filled the away end, and a lot more – donning gold and black – managed to get seats among the home supporters in what was a largely empty ground.

But while the travelling fans were in the mood for partying, Nuno's lot were a little ragged on the pitch in the opening stages, and Espanyol got a goal.

After having Matias Vargas test Rui Patricio with a long-range effort, the home side piled on the pressure and opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour through Calleri – the striker's simple tap-in giving Abelardo Fernandez's charges hope and buoying the locals.

Thankfully, though, Wolves came up with a swift response and dampened their spirits.

The new front pairing of Podence and Traore worked in tandem for the equaliser – coming just six minutes after Espanyol had broken the deadlock.

Collecting the 5ft 5in Portuguese's low cross from the right, Traore – after his initial attempt was blocked – squeezed his shot past Andres Prieto, finding the net in his home city.

A strike from the speedster, who had earlier been booked for what seemed an innocuous challenge, which allayed any slight fears – temporarily, at least.

The rest of the first half was pretty straightforward for Wolves. Podence made some nice cross-field passes, showing he brings a lot more than pace to the table.

Conor Coady picked his spots nicely at the back, too, while a few others – Gibbs-White especially – were hoping to be a bit sharper in the second period.

After the interval, some of the Wolves fans in the home end and corporate seats were seemingly ushered out of the ground by stewards and police.

Back on the field, Podence was desperate to open his club account. Firstly, he fizzed one narrowly over the bar from the edge of the area.

Then, he tried his luck from the halfway line. With Prieto well off his line, Podence's eyes lit up. The attempt, though, sailed a fair way off target. Podence is not short of ambition, clearly.

At the other end, though, Espanyol went back in front. Kilman took down David Lopez in the box with a high challenge, and the lively Calleri converted the penalty coolly as he sent Patricio the wrong way.

Not exactly enough to get Wolves' alarm bells ringing, but a display that the hosts were not going to down without showing some fight.

Nuno's pack almost came up with another quick equaliser. A marauding run from Doherty ended with him playing a clever reverse pass to Gibbs-White, but he scuffed his shot high and wide under pressure from an Espanyol man.

Gibbs-White was soon replaced by Pedro Neto, while Romain Saiss came on for Vinagre, and Bruno Jordao entered the fray in place of Traore.

There was still time for a couple of goals. Podence was the provider again for Wolves as he drove the ball into the danger zone, for Doherty to smash it home from a yard or two out.

Calleri went on to have the last laugh on the night as he headed in for his hat-trick in added-on time and Espanyol went out with their pride intact, but, ultimately, Wolves got exactly what they wanted.

Key moments

16 - Goal. Espanyol score early on to give themselves some hope. The ball is squared across the face of goal, and Calleri completes a simple tap-in.

22 - GOOOOALLLL! Nice, swift response after a lacklustre start from Wolves. Traore tries to get a shot off, and it is blocked, but he gets another bite at the cherry and squeezes the ball past Prieto.

57 - Goal. Espanyol retake the lead on the night. David Lopez is taken down in the box by Kilman, and Calleri makes no mistake from the spot.

80 - GOOOALLLLLLL! Podence is completely free and he squares it across goal to Doherty, who smashes in from point-blank range. Two assists for Podence.

90 - Goal. Espanyol win it on the night as Calleri completes his hat-trick, heading the ball into the bottom corner.

Teams

Espanyol (4-4-1-1): Prieto; Gomez, Naldo, Calero, Pedrosa; Melendo (Pipa, 75), Sanchez (Lozano, 59), David Lopez, Vargas; Darder (Wu Lei, 67); Calleri

Subs not used: Diego Lopez (gk), Ferreyra, Cabrera, Embarba

Goals: Calleri (16, 57 pen, 90)

Wolves (3-5-2): Patricio; Boly, Coady (c), Kilman; Doherty, Moutinho, Dendoncker, Gibbs-White (Neto, 63), Vinagre (Saiss, 58); Traore (Jordao, 78), Podence

Subs not used: Ruddy (gk), Buur, Campana, Jimenez

Goals: Traore (22), Doherty (80)

Attendance: 14,525

Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)