They say that a good son always comes home, and if he returns with his pockets full of applause and the blessing of his people, all the better. This Friday, the Molineux Stadium did not hold anything back.
Pure nostalgia was unleashed, the kind that breathes thinly in the atmosphere, when Raúl Jiménez stepped again on the grass that he once devoured as the authentic 'Wolf of Tepeji'. It was a reunion of those that make your skin tingle, that loosen your legs and shed a little indiscreet tear after three years of breaking rocks and seeking fortune with the neighbors of Fulham. The romance, gentlemen, is still intact.
General anesthesia for wounded pride
The Wolves fans walk these days with bruised pride, ruminating on the bitter pill of a reality of those that cuts deep. No wonder: they have to bite the dust and start the season from the trenches of the Championship, the purgatory of the second division of English football.
However, having their main net-breaker back, the man who taught them to rub shoulders with giants, served as a blessing and a general anesthesia against pessimism. The mission that the golden team has between one eyebrow and one eyebrow does not allow hesitation or half-measures: put together the mantle, raffle in each field of the silver category and return to the Premier League in one year, without stops, without pretexts and with the knife between the teeth.
Therefore, when the clock of life and the game struck 69 minutes in the debut of the EFL Cup, the old Wolverhampton building wanted to collapse. It didn't matter that the scoreboard already showed a lapidary and calm 3-0 in favor of the locals, nor that the rival in turn was the modest Port Vale of League Two, a team that came more to know the map and take a photo than to compete face to face.
The true climax of the night, the great goal that is not noted in the statistics but is celebrated with the heart, occurred when the Mexican striker's entry to the field was announced.
The “Yes, sir” that echoes from the soul
Immediately, as if time had frozen in a capsule of happiness, the war cry reappeared. That unbeatable anthem of “Yes, sir” once again burst forth from British throats, echoing again and again in the stands to shelter the guy who dazzled the Tricolor and shone with his own light in the last World Cup.
The geography of the Wolf changed drastically; He will no longer have to measure himself every eight days against the multimillion-dollar squads and tinsel stages of Manchester United, Liverpool or Fulham themselves. Now destiny sends him to scrape his heels in the toughest, coldest and toughest customs of the Second Division.
But the true fan, the one who screams on the board, didn't care a damn about that: seeing Raúl run again in the gold jacket is worth every penny the ticket cost.
Jiménez returns to the grounds of the pack commanded by Vítor Pereira to rediscover the most sacred, passionate and lasting idyll of his entire career on the Old Continent. Behind, far behind, buried by the resilience of an Aztec warrior, were the ghosts and nights of uncertainty brought about by that fateful and historic clash of heads on November 29, 2020. An accident that froze the world of football, but that could not put out the fire of its spirit.
The Wolf that ate the Premier League
Today, the collective memory of Molineux prefers to invoke the Wolf that ate the Premier League alive without asking anyone's permission. That indomitable striker, with an elegant stride and relentless finishing, who in his first golden era (2018-2023) left an indelible and blessed image: a total of 57 goals piercing enemy networks and 23 assists of pure class in 166 official commitments, leading the club to even bite the ground in the Europa League.
Raúl Alonso Jiménez is back in the fold. The Wolf returned to mark his territory with his sharp fang, and in this very tough Championship, the rivals are already smelling it and starting to pray, because they know which side the iguana chews on when the Mexican is loose.
