They played the Europa League music at full blast, they belted out the team line-ups over the public address system, they even had ball boys holding aloft the competition’s flag in the centre circle. But despite futile attempts to portray a sense of normality, this entire charade was anything but.



Wolverhampton Wanderers didn’t want to play. Even fans agreed there was no point. But their game in Athens last night went ahead regardless — a sham of a football match, a total non-event played out in near silence, bar Conor Coady (they could probably hear him in Crete!) and a small band of home supporters (and a trumpeter) who tried to make as much noise as possible in what was a slapstick mockery of the behind-closed-doors ruling.



For the record, it finished Olympiakos 1 Wolves 1. Will there even be a second leg? Who knows. Does anyone care? One of the biggest matches in the Molineux club’s recent history was reduced to a sham. Boss Nuno Espirito...