Iraola: Only one team tried to win Bournemouth-Wolves tie
Bournemouth needed penalties to beat Wolves in the fifth round of the FA Cup, but Andoni Iraola said they deserved to win the tie earlier.
Andoni Iraola believes Bournemouth were the only side trying to win their FA Cup tie against Wolves, praising the Cherries for scraping through in difficult circumstances.
Bournemouth triumphed 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out on Saturday to reach the competition's quarter-finals for just the third time in their history, following an eventful 1-1 draw.
Evanilson put the Cherries ahead in the first half, with Dean Huijsen having a potential second goal chalked off when the semi-automated offside technology failed, necessitating a manual eight-minute VAR review.
Matheus Cunha's stunning strike got Wolves back on level terms, but he was later sent off for a petulant headbutt on Milos Kerkez and Bournemouth triumphed on spot-kicks.
The Cherries fired 31 shots across the 120 minutes, the most any team has had in an all-Premier League FA Cup tie since Manchester United's 36 against Norwich City in June 2020.
Iraola hailed their attacking endeavour when speaking to BBC Sport after the game, saying: "It was a game only one team tried to win. I think we were in control of the game.
"But they found a way, Cunha... it was an amazing goal. We should have scored two or three goals today.
"It could have easily been 3-0. We didn't punish them when we were playing better. We were controlling the whole game.
"We deserved to go to the next round, but we had to do it in a difficult way.
"I think everything has gone against us today, but fortunately for us, we go to the next round. We should have won this game a lot earlier."
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira, meanwhile, was proud of the character his team showed to get through extra time, with Toti Gomes and Sam Johnstone excelling as they sat deep and played for spot-kicks.
He also refused to criticise Cunha following his late red card, which could result in his second lengthy ban of the season after he missed three matches for violent conduct following a post-match skirmish in December.
"I'm proud of the team for the way we played and competed," Pereira said.
"Cunha is a special player, he played in extra time when he was not in the right condition to play – for the last three weeks he has had a hamstring issue.
"The emotional side was high in this game, there was a lot of pressure in the end it has happened. Now we must cope."