Fittingly, it was Ruben Neves who scored the first goal of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ season
Neves was one of the stars of Wolves’ march to the Championship title last year, responsible for several eye-catching goals along the way. His performances saw him linked with several moves to other Premier League clubs, only for the 21-year-old to opt to stay put at Molineux and play his part in the club’s first season back in the top flight since 2012.
Wolves found themselves behind in the first half of their opener against Everton on Saturday evening after Richarlison prodded home a debut goal for the Toffees inside 20 minutes.
The visitors were reduced to ten men shortly before half-time, however. Craig Pawson deemed Phil Jagielka’s challenge on Diogo Jota being worthy of a straight red card, presenting Wolves with a dangerous free-kick. Neves stepped up and steered the ball into the top corner of Jordan Pickford’s goal from the edge of the D.
A fine goal, but it was soon noted by some that the position it was taken from was not where Jagielka had committed his foul.
Hahahahahaha what’s going on here… pic.twitter.com/OHy7M4Qy9i
— Brendan (@BRawcliffe96) August 11, 2018
Any sense of Evertonian injustice might have been forgotten for a brief while in the second half when, despite their numerical disadvantage, they retook the lead through a well-taken second from Richarlison.
However, late pressure from the hosts saw them equalise through Raul Jiminez with ten minutes of regulation time remaining.
