Matheus Cunha was delighted to mark his return to the starting 11 by netting a brace to earn Wolves a hard-fought point on the road against Nottingham Forest.
The Brazilian missed nine weeks of the season after picking up a hamstring injury the week after his hat-trick against Chelsea in February, but he came back to the pitch in stunning fashion by opening the scoring with an impressive solo effort before bundling in an equaliser just after the hour mark in an appearance he dedicated to the Wolves medical staff.
On two goals in his first start since injury
“First of all, I’ve got to say thank you to everyone who helped push me to get back, the physios, and everyone who worked really hard to put me back on the team, so this feeling is amazing to come in and help the team.
“Being in the first 11 and helping the team is everything that 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.”
On his incredible opener
“I was just thinking about helping to push my team up the pitch. I didn’t think I was going to score – I’ve got to be honest!
“I saw two defenders there and I saw I had a chance, but I believe in my potential to go fast, but I really only wanted to push the team up because at that time Forest were pressing a little.
“I only wanted to run with the ball, but every single time I pushed a little bit more, I saw the opportunity to score, and then I scored an amazing goal. I didn’t believe it, but then I saw the ball in the right place.”
On where Wolves would be without injuries
“It’s hard to say. I think everyone in the team has done an amazing season. Honestly, no-one outside the team thought we could do that, only us inside the team.
“But Gary and his staff have come in with unbelievable ideas and pushed us to be the best of us. But of course, with Neto, Channy [Hwang], everyone, but even now with Rayan [Ait-Nouri], he did an unbelievable job but then he gets an injury when I come back, 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.”
