Wolves 3 RB Leipzig 0 - Report

It took Wolves until the second half to score their second when Sarabia reacted quickly to finish from close range.

Pre-season star Rodrigo Gomes continued his impressive preparations for his first season at Wolves when he scored his third goal of the summer and Wolves’ third of the game, from a nice team move.

Analysis

Gary O’Neil named a strong starting XI and was boosted with an impressive bench, as Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Pedro Neto and Joao Gomes all made their first squad of pre-season.

Wolves started the game aggressively and on the front foot, creating a good early chance when Rayan Ait-Nouri danced out of a tight space and released R.Gomes down the left flank.

However, his low cross for Sarabia could have been better and the chance was lost.

Leipzig had an opening of their own when Andre Silva found space outside the box, but had his shot deflected over the bar.

Wolves then took advantage of their strong start by taking the lead in the 17th minute. A quick and effective counter-attack started by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde ended with Matt Doherty’s cross for Sarabia, who saw his shot end up in the back of the net courtesy of Leipzig defender Klostermann’s poor clearance.

The weather took a turn for the worst after 35 mins when heavy rain descended on the Chase Stadium, forcing fans to run for shelter further up into the stands. The tropical storm came and went relatively quickly.

Leipzig almost had a big opportunity when the ball broke for Lois Openda but Toti Gomes’ superb last ditch tackle denied him, to preserve Wolves’ 1-0 lead going into the half-time break.

Once the second half got under way there were a few heavy challenges flying in, topped off by a very poor and very late tackle by Elif Elmas on Doherty.

As the German side looked for a way back into the game, Openda took aim from distance, but Yerson Mosquera’s block denied him.

At the other end, a good R.Gomes cross found Sarabia, who had his header blocked.

Wolves doubled their lead after 63 minutes. Some good work on the left from Hwang Hee-chan set up Jorgen Strand Larsen inside the box, but he could only hit the crossbar before the ball fell for Sarabia to finish from close range.

Shortly after, Sa, Semedo, Neto and J.Gomes all came on for their first pre-season minutes.

Neto’s first run down the right ring almost resulted in a goal when his low cross nearly found Larsen but was claimed by goalkeeper Peter Gulasci.

Wolves then made it 3-0 with an excellently crafted goal as a one-two between R.Gomes and Hwang resulted in the former finishing off the post for his third goal of pre-season.

Wolves were dominating Leipzig and found another chance when Neto burst forward but his pass aimed at Larsen was claimed by Gulasci.

The heavens then opened again with an intense tropical storm and strong winds as more fans sprinted for cover.

Chiquinho was screaming for a penalty when he darted into the box and was brought down, but the referee waved away his appeals.

That moment was the last big moment of the game as Wolves eased to a dominant 3-0 win.

Key moments

GOAL 17 Sarabia’s shot results in a Klostermann own goal

GOAL 63 Sarabia finishes from close range to put Wolves 2-0 up

GOAL 73 R.Gomes finds the back of the net off the post

Teams

Wolves: Bentley (Sa, 69), Doherty (Semedo, 69), Mosquera (S.Bueno, 77), Toti (H.Bueno, 77), Ait-Nouri, Lemina (Doyle, 45), Bellegarde (J.Gomes, 69), Sarabia (Neto, 69), Hwang (Guedes, 77), R.Gomes (Chiquinho, 77), Larsen.

Subs not used: King, Dawson, Chirewa, Cundle, Lima, Rawlings.

RB Leipzig: Vandevoort (Gulacsi, 45), Simakan, Orban, Elmas (Sakir, 53), Haidara, Openda (Schlosler, 63), Seiwald (Sesko, 63), Klostermann, Silva (Poulsen, 63), Gebel (Schuldes, 83), Voufack.

Subs not used: Bitshiabu, Ouedraogo, Zingerle, Jatta, Norbye, Ramsak, Bungi, Osawe.