Express & Star

Victorious Wolves boss Nuno: "It's special"

A delighted Nuno Espirito Santo said "it's special" after Wolves crowned promotion with a derby-day win over Blues.

Published
Last updated

Nuno's team made it a perfect weekend, beating their local rivals 2-0 18 hours after promotion was secured following Fulham's 1-1 draw against Brentford.

Goals from Diogo Jota and Benik Afobe gave Wolves the win.

Nuno celebrated wildly on the pitch at full time with the rest of the players, who threw him into the air at a joyous Molineux.

"I'm very pleased, it's a big moment," he said. "It's special.

"First to our fans, why we work is for our fans. Through the season to the last moment it was a special feeling being with our fans always behind us.

"The club, the city, the support we've been having, it's special for the players.

"They've been fantastic since day one.

"The players have been the key, the way they started and they believed something wasn't changing.

"Every player enjoyed this moment. It was a very hard season, the players deserve it. Every one of them has made a contribution to this success."

Read more:

Wolves are all-but guaranteed the Championship title but Nuno, who allowed the players to have a beer in the dressing room after the game, is also hungry to hit the three-figure mark in terms of points, with his team currently on 95 with three games to go.

"It's not the moment (to think about the Premier League)," Nuno added. "We have 95 points, I say more! Let's achieve something special.

"Let's dream now and try and it.

"A derby is a special game. I understand and respect Birmingham came here to fight for something important to them.

"They found a better team. It happened before (tough tackles). Some of those were out of order but the referee punished them.

"We didn't hide from fighting, we were ready for it.

"We still have things to go for. We achieve something special but we still have things to go for.

"This season doesn't deserve any kind of bad moment.

"Yesterday was finished and the boys came out and played football, they were intense and went for what we want – to win.

"The fans have been there all season. We can now say we achieve it. We achieved it together – together we are stronger."

But for now, even Nuno admitted it was party time.

"It's time to celebrate," he said. "I never allowed beer in the dressing room, first time.

"But it was the first time they asked for it!"