Neves | 'I'm so proud of the boys'

Ruben Neves knows how much fixtures with Aston Villa mean to Wolves supporters, so was delighted to give them memories to treasure on Saturday.

The Portuguese’s free-kick five minutes into added time took a huge deflection and nestled into the Villa net to spark joyous scenes of celebrations in the away end, which Neves enjoyed with a knee slide. The inner belief within this group has been on display for Neves’ entire time in gold and black and he insists that won’t be the last late winner they bag, because of the togetherness within.

On the winning goal

“I think the ball was going to the goal. I tried to shoot at the goalkeeper’s side because I know Martinez always goes a little bit early to the wall side, it was a little bit slow, I have to be honest, but what mattered is the ball hit the net, their second goal was a deflection as well, so I don’t want to hear anyone talking about luck. All that matters is the three points we gave to the fans today.”

On a big win

“What a win. A lot of team spirit. I’m so proud of the boys, a really hard game for us. Villa have a great team, they were playing at home, a derby, so it was almost perfect for us. Of course, we wanted to play better, but when you can’t play as you like to play, the team spirit comes.”

On the belief in the group

“As soon as the first goal went in, I just knew it could change the game. I remember they had a corner, but we needed to keep on going, it wasn’t done, we still had time and two minutes after we scored the first goal.

“The team spirit, it’s happened a lot of times with us since I’ve been here, and it will keep happening because we just don’t give up until the whistle. We changed the game in 15 minutes.”

On eight games in assessment

“It was a special game. Every single game is important, but today we knew we really wanted to win the game. We struggled a little bit during the game, they are a great team, but we had chances to score.

“They had chances to score, it was a great game to watch, and when things are not coming, the team spirit comes and thing happen. I think we deserved the win, there was a lot of games like that we didn’t win, that’s football, really happy for the team and for the fans, because we know what the game means to them.”

On Traore’s brilliance

“It’s his game. He can do things that not anyone can do in football because of his characteristics, of course. He’s a special player, we are used to it because he does a lot of it in training sessions, and we know how hard it is to stop him, almost impossible when he’s running.

“Unlucky he didn’t score, but he did a great cross for our second goal. It was a good game for everyone, we suffered, we were two down at Villa Park, it’s not easy to come back here, but we did it. Our fans were amazing, they didn’t stop supporting us, so really happy for the team and fans.”

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