Wolves' Ruben Neves out to show former boss what he has learned

Sevilla chief Lopetegui nearly became Wolves manager in 2016, but before that he managed Porto.

It was there he handed a first-team debut to Neves, who was only 17 at the time and has since gone on to thrive in gold and black.

And Neves will always be grateful to Lopetegui, although he is desperate to get one over him.

“I cannot lie. He’s a very special coach for me,” he said.

“He was the one who put me in to play at 17 years old.

“That was a great thing for me, of course, and something you don’t usually see in Portugal.

“At that time, in 2014, you didn’t see many coaches giving minutes to academy players.

“But he arrived at Porto and gave me a chance to play, so he’s a very special coach for me.

“Of course, I’ll want to beat him, because I want Wolves to go through.

“But he’s a very special coach and I’ll always be thankful to him because he started my career.”

Lopetegui was the one who saw the potential in Neves, and Nuno Espirito Santo has helped the midfielder reach another level.

Since being snapped up for £15million by Wolves in the summer of 2017, he has wowed supporters with a catalogue of stunning strikes and been one of Nuno’s most-trusted charges.

On making it to Germany and being in the last eight, Neves said: “It was our goal since the restart of the Europa League, to be in Germany, playing in the final eight.

“We achieved it, and it’s a big achievement for us as a club.

“But we don’t want to stop here. We’ll go to the game as we do every time and try to win the game.

“The philosophy since I’ve been here has been game by game, and now it is even more as all the games are like finals – just one leg.

“Any team can go through. We’ll look at Sevilla first and try to go through.

“We don’t think about the future, because we know we have a really hard game in front of us and need to be at our best to get the result we want.”

Going into the clash, Sevilla very much have the upper hand in terms of pedigree.

But Wolves have taken the Europa by storm this season, and Neves said: “We know they’ve won the tournament before, but it’s a different tournament now.

“It’s just one leg, so it will be really hard for every team.

“There are a lot of very good teams in the tournament, and it’s a completely different way to play the Europa League.

“It’ll be like a final for us, and for Sevilla as well.

“I hope we can go through to the semis.”

Neves added: “Our goal since I arrived here has been to improve as a club.

“We wanted to get to that higher level of football as soon as we could.

“Of course, it’s a great job from the club, the players, the staff, to be here after three years.

“We need to be proud of ourselves, and now we will try to improve even more and put the club at the highest level in football.

“We’ve been working a lot and playing really well, so we deserve to be here.

“To be in the final eight is a sign that we have done things well, and now we want to achieve something more for the club.”