Matheus Cunha was delighted to return to the starting lineup by scoring twice to win Wolves a hard-fought draw away to Nottingham Forest.
The Brazilian missed nine weeks of the season after injuring his hamstring the week after scoring a hat-trick against Chelsea in February, but he returned to the pitch in spectacular fashion, opening the scoring with an impressive solo effort before bundling in an equaliser just after the hour mark in an appearance dedicated to the Wolves medical staff.
On two goals in his first start since the injury.
“First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone who pushed me to return, the physios, and everyone who worked so hard to get me back on the squad; it’s an incredible feeling to come in and support the team.
“Being in the first 11 and contributing to the squad is everything you work hard for, but it felt like the first game of the season again.
“The feeling is different and you are a lot more tired than before, but it’s also great that I was able to help the team, so it was a very important point for me.”
During his fantastic opener
“I was just thinking about helping my team get up the pitch. I honestly didn’t think I’d score!
“I saw two defenders there and knew I had a chance, but I believe in my ability to move quickly, and I really just wanted to drive the team up because Forest were pressing at the time.
“I just wanted to go with the ball, but every time I pushed a little more, I saw a possibility to score, and I scored an incredible goal. I didn’t believe it, but then I noticed the ball at the right place.”
Where would Wolves be if they were not injured?
“It’s difficult to say. I think everyone on the team has had a fantastic season. To be honest, no one outside of the team believed we could achieve it; only we did.
“But Gary and his crew have come up with incredible ideas and pushed us to be the best version of ourselves. But, of course, with Neto, Channy [Hwang], and everyone, but even now with Rayan [Ait-Nouri], he performed an incredible job, but he got injured when I returned, so we didn’t get to play together.
“We’ve had so many injuries that haven’t helped us, but at the end of the process hopefully we can reach the Europa League – we just need a little more points.”
On his goal celebrations
“I promised the Premier League media that I would do something when I scored. They said I needed to do this celebration, so I agreed 100 per cent, but I didn’t know I would be doing that celebration after scoring such an amazing goal. I hope the people can enjoy it because I said I was going to do it and I stuck to my promise.
“But the second was a little bit of a joke with Morgan Gibbs-White. He’s a great player and I know things have been said before the game about when we played each other in the Carabao Cup last year, so after he scored, I scored and I remembered this celebration, but there was nothing else more than this. It was just a little joke between us.”
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