Raul Jimenez embraced Wolves penalty responsibility
Raul Jimenez says he embraced the responsibility of stepping up to score Wolves’ 97th-minute equaliser from the penalty spot after they salvaged a point against Burnley.
After being fouled in the box by Clarets defender Erik Pieters, Jimenez kept his cool to beat keeper Tom Pope and earn Wolves a draw, which also stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions this season to eight matches.
Jimenez has scored 16 penalties out of 16 taken in his professional career.
And he said: “It’s good for me to take that responsibility, with that kind of penalty kick
“Last minute, last play of the match, I have taken penalties in finals, in other instances, so I have experience, I have to be calm and I was. It’s good for us to have a point”
“When I got possession of the ball, he tried to kick the ball, but he kicked me. It was the right decision and a good moment for us to equalise in the game.”
Wolves scored late on numerous occasions last season.
Jimenez says their never-say-die attitude is still very much alive and kicking.
“That’s something that last season characterised us,” he added.
“That’s something that we had to have in all matches, fight until the end, until the referee says it’s over.
“We’re never going to sit down, we are going to keep working to equalise or win the game.”
“It was a tough game. When they scored something happened to us, but we knew that we have very good players to equalise the match.”“I hit the same post as last weekend, then at the end of the match the penalty, I think the referee was good. Then I had the calmness to take it, shoot and score.”
Wolves are in the middle of a run of five matches in just 14 days.
They beat Torino 3-2 in Turin on Thursday night, three days after drawing 1-1 with Manchester United at Molineux.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team will face the return leg against Torino at home on Thursday and then travel to Everton on Sunday in the Premier League, with kick off at 2pm, ahead of the international break.
Jimenez says Wolves need to adapt if they want to stay in Europe. If they progress past the Italians on Thursday they will reach the Europa League group stages, which involve an extra six matches between September and December, with the group stage draw taking place on Friday afternoon.
Jimenez, who has scored six goals in eight games so far this season, added: “I think we have to work these three days, rest first of all, then start thinking that we have to win the next match. It’s a good opportunity for us be in the Europa League.
“We have to keep going forward to the next matches. Keep working, making it good. Next week we have to get the three points.
“We have a lot of games, but we have to adapt if we want to be in the Europa League, this is going to be all season, so we have to keep doing what we are doing.”
