RAUL JIMENEZ came to Wolves’ rescue with the stoppage-time winner which leaves Nuno Espirito Santo’s on the brink of qualifying for the last 32.
However once again, football fans held their breath, after witnessing another horror accident on the field.
Bratislava defender Kenan Bajric was knocked cold when he caught Raul Jimenez’s boot full in the face as he bravely blocked the striker’s attempted overhead kick, with the game locked at 0-0.
Jimenez and the Slovan players immediately realised the seriousness of the situation as Bajric dropped to the turf like a stone.
As he lay motionless, completely sparked out, there were real fears for his well-being and it appeared the stricken Slovan player was in danger of choking on his tongue.
And his frantic teammates, with Jimenez in attendance, swiftly rolled him on to his side in the recovery position.
Thankfully, after a 10-minute delay, Bajric was stretchered off with his neck in a protective brace to warm applause from all sections of Molineux.
Dutch referee Bas Nijhuis was almost apologetic as he booked Jimenez for dangerous play but the striker was blameless.
However he still had a huge part to play as the electronic board showed there were 12 minutes of stoppage time to play.
Two minutes into injury time, it was the Mexican who struck.
Adama Traore’s cross was deflected off sub Artem Sukhotskiy and Jimenez soared above Myenty Abena to power his header home.
Until then, it looked as of all Wolves’ best work would end in Greif – as Bratislava goalie Dom Greif defied them.
He even kept out a second-half spot-kick by Ruben Neves, shortly after the break.
Wolves knew this was never going to be a breeze, having scraped through 2-1 in Slovakia a fortnight ago, thanks to Raul Jimenez’s second-half penalty.
So it was totally baffling when they were presented with a golden chance to bury Bratislava, from the penalty spot, six minutes after the restart – and blew it.
Especially as Jimenez, their spot-kick hero in Bratislava, turned his back on the pen and handed the responsibility over to Neves.
For some reason, Jimenez didn’t trust history to repeat itself when Slovan skipper Vasil Bozhikov trod on the back of Pedro Neto’s right heel, right on the 18-yard line to send the Wolves forward tumbling.
Dutch ref Bas Nijhuis didn’t have the advantage of VAR but called it correctly.
But rather than turn to Jimenez, who has a 100% record for Wolves from 12 yards, Neves stepped forward and was denied by Greif, who hurled himself to his right to claw away the Portuguese midfielder’s effort.
However Wolves never know when they are beaten and, just as they had in Istanbul, earned another crucial three points in stoppage time.
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