Wolves 2-2 Everton: The clash of the Portuguese managers ends in enthralling draw
Nuno Espirito Santo's Wolves took on Marco Silva's Everton today in a battle between two young Portuguese managers, and it was a battle that saw neither side come out on top as they played out a 2-2 draw in their first league fixture of the campaign.
Wolves, it can be recalled, named a record five Portuguese players in their starting lineup, the most seen in an English top flight fixture, while Ruben Vinagre was also named on the bench and made his Premier League debut in the closing stages of the match.
It was Everton that were the first off the mark after £35million summer signing Richarlison scored on his debut early on.
However, things then got challenging for the Merseyside club after centreback Phil Jagielka saw red towards the end of the half after being beaten to the ball by Portuguese starlet Diogo Jota.
And Wolves made the most of their man advantage, with Ruben Neves - who found the back of the net with some simply stunning goals with the West Midlands club last season in the Championship - scoring a beautiful curling free-kick just shy of the break, picking up from where he left off in the Championship.
Despite the man advantage, it was actually Everton that pulled back in front after Richarlison doubled his goal tally to make it a memorable debut, placing the ball past Rui Patricio in the 67th minute.
With the game drawing to a close and Wolves pushing for the equaliser, it was eventually Benfica loanee Raul Jimenez who scored cleverly with a header while leaning back with just 10 minutes left of the game, topping off an exciting match to kickstart Wolves' return to the top flight and Marco Silva's reign at Everton.