Europa League: Nuno proud of Wolves' determination in Slovan Bratislava win
Nuno Espirito Santo is delighted with the character shown by Wolves to come back from behind and prevail in a surreal atmosphere at Slovan Bratislava.
Nuno's side won the Europa League Group K clash 2-1, with Romain Saiss and Raul Jimenez scoring after Andraz Sporar's opener for the Slovakian champions.
As part of a controversial Uefa sanction against the hosts, 20,000 under-14s went to the game for free and were thunderous in their support for Slovan.
But Wolves moved up to second in the group – three games in – despite substitute Diogo Jota's late dismissal for two quick-fire bookings, and Nuno said: "Everybody's happy because I think the first half was not so good, but the second half was very, very good.
"It was a good performance in the second half.
"It's something we have to analyse – why we required so much effort, why we did not play so good in the first half.
"We conceded a goal we should not – there was only one man. But I'm very happy for the fans that were here. They were buzzing.
"This is what we wanted, to play in Europe, enjoy ourselves and show our talent. I think the team showed good things, and we keep on going."
Slovan were originally ordered to play the game behind-closed-doors. However, Uefa rules allow children to go for free with an adult accompanying every 10, so Tehelne pole was packed out.
Wolves, meanwhile, were only able to sell 200 tickets as part of the Uefa guidelines.
Nuno said on the atmosphere: "It was noisy! The young people really made some noise.
"The message is clear though – let's stop racism.
"The young people were in the stadium and enjoyed themselves because something that someone did wrong that cannot be repeated."
Wolves also had to deal with a poor playing surface which cut up as the game progressed. Fortunately, they came through unscathed injury-wise.
"We did the training session on Wednesday and could see the pitch was not in the best condition. It was tough to play football – for both teams," said Nuno.
"You have to adapt and we did well in that aspect, and, fortunately, there were no injuries – for both teams."
Wolves, though, ended the game a man down as Jota's emotions got the better of him, and Nuno added: "He was frustrated.
"He came out of concentration and made a mistake. Don't do it again."
