Nuno not blaming strange circumstances for Wolves' showing
Nuno Espirito Santo refused to blame the strange circumstances surrounding Wolves’ Europa League tie at Olympiacos for their below-par performance in last night’s first leg.
Substitute Pedro Neto’s strike was enough to earn Wolves a 1-1 draw in Athens and an away goal which means they are favourites to progress from next Thursday’s second leg - a fixture which is now under the threat of postponement due to the coronavirus.
But Nuno acknowledged his team had been some way from their best as they failed to take full advantage against a home team who played most of the match a man down, following Ruben Semedo’s first-half dismissal.
Youssef El Arabi put the Greek club ahead early in the second half before Neto levelled, in a match played behind closed doors and which appeared in doubt of actually going ahead until just hours before kick-off.
Yet Nuno, who again lashed out at the decision to go ahead with the match pre kick-off - branding it "absurd" - insisted the bizarre build-up was no excuse for the performance.
He said: “Let’s be fair to everyone, during the game there was not that feeling. People were focused. Olympiacos are a very good team.
“Now we're going to think about West Ham, but we keep on working. Now we have West Ham and hopefully next Thursday we'll play again.”
When, or if, the second leg takes place is now open to serious question.
UEFA are due to hold a meeting of stakeholders on Tuesday where the possibility of suspending the Champions League, Europa League and Euro 2020 will be discussed.
Next week’s Champions League ties between Manchester City and Real Madrid and Juventus and Lyon have already been postponed.
The entire Madrid squad are in quarantine after one of the players in their basketball squad tested positive for the virus, while a host of top leagues across Europe have been suspended as Covid-19 continues to have an increasing impact on the sporting world.
Last night’s match took place at the end of a surreal week in which UEFA rejected an appeal from Wolves for it to be postponed after Olympiacos owner Evangelos Maranakis revealed he had contracted coronavirus.
The match even appeared in danger of being called off just hours before kick-off when rumours emerged UEFA were considering suspending the Europa League with immediate effect. Instead they will now make a decision on Tuesday.
