Phil Lopez: I feel great physically and hope to continue getting more playing time.

Wolves midfielder Phil Lopez expressed his delight at recovering from injury, returning to the pitch, and scoring a goal after the team's preseason victory over Doncaster Rovers, marking a positive step towards the new season. The Spanish midfielder had suffered a minor groin injury in a closed-door friendly against Estoril in Portugal, making this his first preseason appearance in front of fans.  

In this match, Fer López came on as a substitute in the second half, played for 45 minutes, and scored a goal in the final 10 minutes. Then, Tawanda Chiriwa calmly converted a penalty to secure the victory for Wolves, their second win in the summer pre-season and a continuation of manager Cesar Peschoto's positive pre-season momentum.  

Speaking about his return from injury and playing 45 minutes, Phil Lopez said, "I feel great physically. I hope to continue to increase my playing time and get more opportunities to play. In the previous closed-door friendly, I only played 60 minutes, so this was only my second preseason game. Being able to get back on the pitch and accumulate playing time means a lot to me."  

"Being able to find my form through these games before the start of the new season is very meaningful to me. I learned a lot from these 45 minutes. Before the game, the coaching staff and I discussed whether I would play for 35 minutes or 45 minutes, but I thought my physical condition was fully capable of lasting 45 minutes, and as it turned out, this was the most suitable arrangement for me."  

Speaking about head coach César Pesciotto's tactical philosophy, Fer López said: "The coach wants us to implement high pressing aggressively in the game, but the specific implementation will be adjusted according to different opponents, so the pressing strategy will not be exactly the same in each game."  

"Adjusting the game style according to different opponents is very important, and I think this is a positive change. Tonight, we played better overall, so I believe that as long as we continue to press high and remain more patient and calm when handling the ball in the last three areas of the attacking third, we will be able to create more scoring opportunities."  

When talking about his goal, Phil Lopez said with a smile, "It's certainly a happy thing to score a goal. I actually had another good chance later, but my teammate chose to take the shot himself instead of passing the ball to me. Of course, we still won a penalty in the end, so it was a pretty good result."  

"I'm quite satisfied with my goal, although it wasn't a perfect shot. The goalkeeper had already touched the ball, and I thought it might not go in, but luckily it eventually crossed the goal line."  

Speaking about Tavanda Chiriwa's penalty kick, Phil Lopez said, "I was really happy to see Tavanda Chiriwa score. He is a very good young player who always trains very hard, so everyone is genuinely happy for him. That's why we decided to give him the penalty kick."  

"The entire preseason preparation was indeed very tough, especially the intensity of the physical training, but these are all processes we must go through. Only by building a solid physical foundation can we better prepare for the new season. Although a few players suffered minor injuries during this period, everyone is gradually recovering, and the overall situation is good. We hope to maintain this form and complete the integration through more matches before the start of the league. There is still one last warm-up match left, and of course we hope to end the preseason preparation with a victory."  

Image source: Internet/Wolves official website