Watford's Gerard Deulofeu, left, celebrates with Watford's Troy Deeney after scoring his side's third goal during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley Stadium in London, Sunday, April 7, 2019.Matt Dunham/The Associated Press
Gerard Deulofeu was watching from the Watford bench when Raul Jimenez followed up scoring Wolverhampton’s second goal with a preplanned celebration.
A Wolves-themed mask, gifted from WWE wrestler Sin Cara, was retrieved from behind the Wembley goal and the showboating striker placed it over his face.
By the end of the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, when Wolves capitulated to lose 3-2 and send Watford into its first final in 35 years, Jimenez could have done with the gold-and-black mask back to hide the pain.
Jimenez’s bravado – even with Wolves holding a 2-0 lead after 62 minutes thanks to Matt Doherty’s first-half strike – had proved far too premature.
When Deulofeu was summoned from the bench in the 66th minute, Watford manager Javi Gracia saw a substitute “angry” and determined to seize his chance.
That came in the 79th with an audacious goal.
Spurning a chance to chase down a clearance from Romain Saïss, Jimenez allowed the ball to roll to Deulofeu, who dinked a shot that bent around goalkeeper John Ruddy.
After a goal relying on ingenuity came an equalizer that was due to Troy Deeney’s nerves of steel. With the game in stoppage time, Deeney was softly tripped by Leander Dendoncker and slammed the resulting penalty into the net to send the semi-final into extra time.
“It shows the character of this team,” Deeney said. “We don’t give up.”
Deulofeu, who twice failed to carve out a career at Barcelona, certainly doesn’t.
The Spaniard twice exchanged passes with Andre Gray and sprinted past Conor Coady before completing a counterattack by putting the ball under Ruddy in the 104th. By making all three shots on target count, Watford has a May 18 return trip to Wembley to face Manchester City in the final.
“This team has something special,” Deeney said. “We’re not the most talented. We’re not all that. But the hard work and desire at 2-0 down, many teams would’ve called it a day but we kept fighting and kept going and brought the little man on, who produced a bit of magic.
“We’ve got room to grow, there’s not a ceiling on us yet. … For a club of this size, let’s enjoy this moment.”
Watford, which lost the 1984 final to Everton on a day that then-owner Elton John was pictured in tears, now has another shot at a first major trophy next month.
“We are going to come and have a go,” Deeney said. “There is such belief in each other and what we are doing.”
Wolves can only despair, missing out on a first final in the competition since 1960, when it beat Blackburn.
“It’s a tough moment of real pain and disappointment,” Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo said. “The feeling is we had it. It went away from us. We have to look at it. We have to realize in the last minute of the game we should manage better.”
Arsenal setback
In the day’s only Premier League game, Arsenal missed a chance to strengthen its chances of Champions League qualification when it lost 1-0 at Everton.
At 36 years, 233 days, Phil Jagielka became the oldest scorer in the Premier League this season when he netted from close range in the 10th minute at Goodison Park.
The centreback was a late replacement for the ill Michael Keane to make only his fourth appearance of the season. It was Jagielka’s first goal in almost two years.
A first league defeat in two months for Arsenal leaves fourth place vulnerable to Chelsea, with the London clubs level on points with six games remaining. Chelsea hosts West Ham on Monday.
Tottenham is a point ahead of Arsenal in third place.