'I felt fantastic’ - Raúl Jiménez on first goal back since injury

Raúl Jiménez is back and last weekend scored his first goal since suffering a skull fracture just under 11 months ago. His goal helped secure the first three points of the 2021/22 Premier League season for Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Mexican international hopes that his goal against Southampton is the first of many to come.

His take on the 1-0 win in St Mary’s stadium

“It felt really good. It’s been hard because we were playing well in four of our five games, and we weren’t getting the results. But football is like this. Sometimes you have games like that and you have to step back, analyse, and keep going. We did what we’ve been doing in the last games, but we’ve got our reward and the things we wanted to do,” said Jiménez for the team’s website.

“It came from a kick from the goalkeeper and this is something that we work on in training, So getting the ball and giving it to our strikers. I fought until the end with that one and I think it was because I wanted this goal so much, but now I have my payback.

“I was really, really excited in that moment. When I was there, looking for the ball, winning the ball and then dribbling the last defender. I took my head up and I saw that it was mine. I just shot and I knew that it was going in, so it was really good.

The last time Raúl Jiménez scored a goal was against Newcastle United in October 2020. Prior to scoring his first goal of the campaign, the Mexican international had 15 attempts on goal in the competition, the most by any player this campaign.

“It felt fantastic. To score in front of our fans, it was amazing to score again in the Premier League. I’ve been looking for this goal since the start of the Premier League, and now I feel very good, it feels fantastic to be back on the scoresheet,” he added.

“I’ve been working hard for this, the team has been working hard for this and now for what we have done, we deserve it. Of course, I have been thinking that. I’m a striker. I want to score every game, and sometimes it’s not possible, but I knew the goal was coming. I was fighting for it, I was working for it and we, all the team, deserve this

“I wanted this and I wanted to finish with a goal. But now I’m going to keep working to continue with this, to keep scoring and keep helping the team to score points. I think we all worked hard today, and this is what we deserved.”