For Aston Villa, it was a thoroughly satisfying end to a difficult yet historic week. Villa mourned the loss of Gary Shaw, the youngest member of their 1982 European Cup-winning side, and celebrated a flawless return to Europe’s premier club competition. There was a minute’s thunderous applause for Shaw before kick-off and a boisterous crowd celebrated the comeback victory at the end.

Wolves took the lead against Villa after 72 minutes thanks to Matheus Cunha’s fierce shot following a sloppy pass from Diego Carlos, but collapsed when Ollie Watkins equalised. Ezri Konsa scored what he probably thought was the winner in the 88th minute and then the in-form Jhon Durán – who has not started a game this season – scored his fourth goal of the season from close range.

For Wolves, the bitter defeat was made worse by the fact that central defender Yerson Mosquera was carried off the pitch ten minutes before the end of normal time.

With about a minute left in first-half stoppage time, Emery had seen enough and marched down the touchline towards the tunnel with a look of thunder on his face. Some fans cheered as referee Tim Robinson blew the half-time whistle. Villa were behind thanks to Cunha’s 25th-minute strike and their performance was so poor they deserved to be even further behind.

Rayan Aït-Nouri’s volley deflected off Carlos and Mario Lemina headed straight at Emiliano Martínez from a corner. Wolves were extremely disciplined, with striker Jørgen Strand Larsen one of ten behind the ball for most of Villa’s attempts. Watkins’ attempt was blocked and the ball was backheeled to Morgan Rogers, but Wolves stormed in and cleared.

A period of play a few minutes before half-time was indicative of how Villa were slowly but surely turning things around. Cunha shot, Aït-Nouri was first to the rebound and tried again, and then André was first to take possession on the edge of the box before clearing Rogers out of the way.

Villa were too sluggish for Emery’s liking. The manager tried to speed up the game on the touchline and his frustration got the better of him when he received a yellow card for expressing his disapproval at Strand Larsen taking ages to leave the pitch when he was replaced by Gonçalo Guedes. Strand Larsen was also guilty of delaying a shot in the first half when he was free on goal.

Villa were on familiar ground when Emery brought Durán back from warm-up after an hour. He came on a few minutes later in place of Jacob Ramsey and without touching the ball his presence seemed to cause confusion. Another Villa substitute, Ross Barkley, saw a shot bounce in the box and tipped it wide. Durán headed over from a corner on 70 minutes and was involved in setting up Villa’s equaliser. Rogers latched onto a loose ball 20 yards from Sam Johnstone’s goal and passed it to Watkins who, with Craig Dawson alongside him, fired a shot home when Villa’s second shot was on target.

Watkins was now in the mood. Mosquera knocked the striker over just after half-time and then collided with Rogers, with the former far worse off and having to be stretchered off the pitch. Villa went all out and when Youri Tielemans’ re-worked corner landed at the far post, Konsa Lemina got there and instinctively finished.

Then Durán got involved, converting Rogers’ low ball on the edge of the six-yard box. The Wolves supporters made their way towards the exit.