Wolverhampton Wanderers' brilliant resilience, organisation at the back and their willingness to put bodies on their line helped guide them to a Europa League quarter-final tie against Sevilla.

A Raul Jiménez eighth minute converted penalty sealed a 1-0 victory and a 2-1 aggregate win over Greek Super League champions Olympiacos at Molineux.

This qualification to the Europa League Quarter Final stage is a huge achievement for the club and huge praise must be given to Nuno Espírito Santo for how far he has brought the club since being appointed manager in May 2017.

Resilient and brave defensive display

Wolves were the ones that made the brighter start to the encounter and were worthy of taking the lead from the penalty spot, after former Olympiacos forward Dominic Podence was brought down following a clumsy challenge by goalkeeper Bobby Allain.

From the resulting spot kick Jimenez stepped up with confidence and consequently sent Allain the wrong way. 

However for the majority of the game Olympiacos maintained control as they pushed for a leveller.

Although, the Wanderers back three of Willy Boly, Conor Coady and Romain Saïss managed to hold strong despite the visitors especially late on throwing everything at the hosts.

Boly in particular shone as he managed to clear a lot of the crosses that got fired into his box and on a number of occasions he showed bravery to put his body on the line to get in front shots that were heading goalwards.

Even though Nuno Espírito Santo's defence stood strong throughout the game, goalkeeper Rui Patricio had his work cut out as well.

This was because he was forced to pull out two saves out of the top drawer which ultimately proved to be significant in the ending outcome.

His first good save occurred in the 19th minute when he managed to brilliantly tip Konstantinos Tsimikas half volley round the post.

Then with ten minutes remaining the Portuguese somehow managed to parry away a point blank range Ahmed Hassan header that seemed to be destined to hit the back of the net.

Jiménez goalscoring form continues

Jimenez's eighth minute strike confirmed his 27th goal of the season in all competitions and his 10th in the Europa League.

Furthermore, the Mexican's goal tonight means that he has been directly involved in 37 goals this campaign (27 goals and 10 assists)- only Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne equals that out of all the players from Premier League clubs. 

In addition, since joining originally on loan in June 2018, Jiménez has netted all of the eight penalties that he has took- six in the Premier League and two in the Europa League.

Therefore, the incredible record that the striker currently obtains certainly proves that he is living up to the 30 million pounds that the club spent on him in April 2019.

Also with goalscorers like him hard to find, they will hoping that he will remain with Wolves next season after previously being linked with the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City.

Nuno continuing to turn Wolves into a force

Last night's huge achievement for Wolves continues to show the progression that Santo has made as manager in the three years that he has so far been at the club.

In his first season as  in charge of the club in the 2017/18 campaign, he turned the Wanderers from a mid table Championship side to immediate champions as they won the league by nine clear points.

Then in his first campaign in the Premier League, his team managed to surprise all doubters by finishing in an incredible seventh place- earning a spot in the Europa League Qualifying rounds in the process.

Despite having a fantastic 2018/19 campaign, it was thought that because of their busy schedule  in the Premier League and Europa League added with their lack of squad depth that Santo's second season in the top flight would be more of a struggle.

However, this proved to not be the case as even though this season they finished in seventh again, they earned two points more than they did in the previous campaign.

Additionally, this finish marked their best season in the top flight since the 1979/80 campaign years when they managed to bag sixth place.

This achievement has been further heightened by the fact that Wolves have so far played 16 Europa League games and through qualification to the quarter finals, it shows the continual upwards direction that the club is headed in.

Also, this accomplishment further creates history for Santo's side as it is the first time since the 1971/72 season that they have reached the quarter finals of a European competition.

Consequently yesterday's outcome is ultimately just another step in the right direction for the club and it suggests that the future continues to look bright under Santo.