Wolves training game marred by racism row

Wolves were leading 1-0 in the 68th minute when a coming together between players of both sides ended with Podence swinging at a defender and receiving a straight red card.

The incident flared after Hwang accused a Como player of racist abuse and Wolves’ players were furious in the aftermath.

Players and coaches of both teams were in discussion for several minutes, while Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil spoke to Hwang with the game in doubt.

But the South Korean attacker, who has been the victim of racist abuse previously in his career, insisted he wanted the pre-season practice game to continue.

Wolves have now confirmed they will submit a formal complaint to UEFA following the issue.

“Hee-chan heard a racist remark,” O’Neil told the Express & Star.

“You could see a coming together and Hee-chan was clearly upset by it, as were the lads, you could hear a lot of them trying to comfort Hee-chan and stick up for him.

“Daniel was then sent off for his part in sticking up for him, which obviously went too far.

“Daniel’s apologised for his part in it already.

“I understand that he’s sticking up for his mate and we need that, a group that’s together and when one of us gets hurt we give them our backing.

“But obviously we need to make sure that stays the right side of the line and we don’t cross that line.

“I spoke to Hee-chan and asked if he wanted us to take the team off and he didn’t, he wanted the team to continue.

“I asked him if he wanted to come off and he didn’t, he was keen to continue.

“Fair play to him, to suffer something like that and still put the team first, shows what he is to us and how important he is to us.

“He’ll get our full support and we’ll make sure he’s OK.

“It’s really disappointing. It’s a pre-season training game and it was a decent game before then.”

This comes after the ‘Battle of Benidorm’ two years ago when Podence and Yerson Mosquera were sent off in a pre-season brawl with Spanish side Levante where several punches were thrown.

Meanwhile in the fixture, Wolves fielded two separate starting XI’s in both halves under the Marbella sunshine.

New signings Rodrigo Gomes and Pedro Lima were strong performers down both flanks, while Matheus Cunha played a free role behind new striker Jorgen Strand Larsen and had several shots blocked.

One superb passage of play between Gomes, youngster Luke Rawlings and Cunha ended with the Brazilian forward having a good effort blocked.

Como had a good chance when a mistake from Nigel Lonwijk handed them the ball, but Dan Bentley made a superb save onto the bar and Hugo Bueno cleared the rebound off the line.

Just before the break, Larsen found the back of the net with a smart finish but was flagged offside, as the sides ended the first half drawing 0-0.

In the second half, a lovely Podence pass set up Chiquinho but his cross was cleared before Como had a chance at the other end that was blazed over the bar.

The goal finally came when Rayan Ait-Nouri whipped in a free-kick and Matt Doherty headed home.

After the sending off incident, Tom King made a handful of impressive saves to keep Wolves in the lead.

O’Neil’s side saw the game out and won 1-0.