Europa League: Olympiacos 1 Wolves 1 - Report and pictures

Substitute Pedro Neto’s deflected strike earned Nuno Espirito Santo’s team a 1-1 draw at Olympiacos and a precious away goal.

Under normal circumstances, that would make them favourites to progress from next Thursday’s second leg at Molineux.

The trouble is no-one knows for certain when, or if, the match will be played. By Tuesday, chances Europa League will have been suspended as the coronavirus continues to make a large impact on the sporting calendar.

For much of the 90 minutes, this match was played in the spirit of two teams who didn’t seem sure there was actually any point to what they were doing.

Neto’s goal saved Wolves from defeat against a home team who played most of the match with 10-men following Ruben Semedo’s first-half dismissal but led when Youssef El Arabi opened the scoring early in the second half.

It was a decent result from a rather average performance, yet the outcome was never going to be the real story of a match being played behind closed doors and which Wolves had requested be postponed.

Nuno again made his displeasure clear pre-match, branding the decision to go ahead with the fixture “absurd”. Until they went behind, his players looked like they would rather be anywhere than Athens.

Yet a team which has gained more points from losing positions than any other in the Premier League once more found a way back, albeit Neto’s strike took a hefty deflection off Andreas Bouchalakis on its way into the net.

Nuno made one change from the XI which started last weekend’s 0-0 Premier League draw with Brighton, winger Adama Traore restored to the line-up in place of Leander Dendoncker, Wolves reverting back to a three-man attack.

The build-up to the match was the same as any other. Wolves arrived around 90 minutes prior to kick-off and went out to inspect the pitch. Three-quarters of an hour later both teams began their warm-ups and music began blaring out of the public address system. Even the giant Europa League flag covering the centre circle was in attendance.

Yet there were no supporters to see or hear it. When the teams were read out of the team’s five minutes the name of every player was met with silence.

It wasn’t entirely quiet at kick-off, with 50 Olympiacos fans who were allowed in on directors’ tickets - another bizarre UEFA decision considering the extra measures in place around the fixture - making the kind of noise which might have tricked TV viewers into thinking their number was 10-times stronger. They even had a horn.

There was little for anyone to get excited about prior to Semedo’s 29th minute dismissal.

Olympiacos had the best of it but without seriously testing Rui Patricio, the Wolves goalkeeper easily collecting shots from Mathieu Valbuena and Mohamed Camara and though Giorgios Masouras did cause brief alarm with an effort which struck the bar, Youssef El Arabi had been offside in the build-up in any case.

The visitors were struggling to get going but then Traore turned his man and though he was fouled, referee Clement Turpin allowed play to go on. From there Jimenez immediately released Diogo Jota and though Semedo tried to pull out of the challenge on the edge of the box, he made enough contact to send the Wolves man falling to the turf and Turpin instantly produced a red card, deeming the defender to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Even with a man advantage Wolves struggled to make much of an impression before the break. Their best chance fell to Traore but he shot hurriedly wide after good pressing from Joao Moutinho had caused Olympiacos to lose the ball deep inside their own half.

Nuno made an attacking change at the break, Pedro Neto introduced in place of Matt Doherty, with Traore switching to wing-back.

But it was the hosts who would take the lead nine minutes into the second period. Camara was allowed to advance down the right and slipped a pass inside to Guilherme, who raced past Conor Coady to the byline before firing the ball across goal for El Arabi to tap home.

Going behind did at least wake Wolves up and Olympiacos goalkeeper Jose Sa was forced to save with his face from Jimenez after the striker had been picked out by Neto. Ruben Neves then curled a long-range effort narrowly wide.

The manner of the equaliser, when it arrived on 67 minutes, was fortunate but just reward for their increased effort. Moutinho laid a free-kick off to Neto, whose shot from 25 yards out hit the legs of Andreas Bouchalakis, leaving completely wrong-footed as the ball flew beyond him and into the net. Neto became the youngest Wolves scorer in European competition since Steve Daley netted against Ferencvaros in 1972.

The stage then looked set for Wolves to push on and take victory but in truth Sa was relatively untroubled after that.

Within seconds of the final whistle, the ground was near silent and it was impossible to escape the feeling everyone had been robbed of what should have been a great occasion.

Whoever said football is nothing without fans hit the nail right on the head.

Teams

Wolves (3-4-3): Patricio, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Doherty (Neto HT), Moutinho (Dendoncker 85), Neves, Vinagre (Podence 79), Traore, Jimenez, Jota Subs not used: Jordao, Kilman, Rasmussen, Ruddy (gk).

Olympiacos (4-3-3): Sa, Elabdellaoui, Semedo, Ba, Tsimikas, Guilherme, Bouchalakis, Camara, Masouras (Cisse 33), El Arabi (Fortounis 74), Valbuena (Gaspar 84) Subs not used: Lovera, Torosidis, Randjelovic, Allain (gk).