Referee threatens to abandon Wolves v Levante friendly amid mass brawl and four red cards

A referee threatens to abandon the Wolves v Levante friendly amid a mass brawl, crunching tackles and as many as four red cards handed out.

Wolverhampton Wanderers saw their behind-closed-doors friendly with the Spanish side descend into farce when four players were sent off in the first half… only for both sides to play with 11-a-side in the second.

It was a 10am start for both sides at their pre-season camp in Benidorm, but nobody expected it to play out to wild challenges that were seen flying in.

The tone was set by the referee when Wolves got an early indirect free-kick on the goal-line with Levante were penalised for a deliberate pass back to the keeper.

Things then took a chaotic and drastic twist around the half-hour mark when a crazy challenge wide on the right led to a furious 22-man melee, with some of the staff even running onto the pitch to calm players down.

Podence fight #WWFC pic.twitter.com/78bLub3DWu

— Joe (@wwfc_joe_) July 21, 2022

Roger Martí Salvador put Levante in front with a controlled finish but the first half was marred by the melee that followed a rash challenge.

Levante’s players were immediately furious and began pushing and shoving Wolves’ Yerson Mosquera.

Team-mates tried to pull Mosquera away as Levante players came together to get back to him, angry at some sort of infraction that was unclear via Wolves’ live stream of the game.

The referee remained patient, standing on the side watching on and had a red card in his hand, before he sent Mosquera for Wolves and Enis Bardhi for Levante off.

But the drama didn’t end there in this most chaotic of encounters as just before the half-time break Wolves’ Daniel Podence took issue with a nearby defender and another shoving match followed.

Players from both sides legged it over towards the latest bust-up in a bid to diffuse the situation.`Definitely not a friendly the Premier League side turned up for.

So. Wolves 1-2 Levante.

Pre-Season (behind closed doors game).

– Mass brawl’s
– 4 red cards in the first half, so it’s then 9 v 9.
– It’s decided to resume second half back at 11 v 11.
– Ref blows for full time on 86 minutes.

Fantastic.

— ຮς๏ŧŧ (@wwfcscott) July 21, 2022

Wolves | Smith, Mosquera (Lembikisa 46), Collins (Toti 64), Toti (Boly 46), Bueno, Dendoncker (Ronan 64), Ronan (Griffiths 46), Cundle, Podence (Hodge 46), Gibbs-White (Coady 46), Corbeanu.

Unused subs | Sarkic, Storer, Jonny, Kilman, Ait-Nouri, Neves, Moutinho, Campbell, Neto, Jimenez.

Levante | Femenias, Rober Pier, Soldado, Roger, Malsa, Vezo, Brugui, Pubill, Melero, Saracchi, Toni Herrero.

Subs | Campos, Son, Franquesa, Martinez, Pepelu, Cantero, Postigo, Giorgi, Gomez, Leal, Munoz, Mustafi, Bardhi, Blesa, Campana, Joni Montiel.

Twitter users had their say as the referee threatens to abandon Wolves v Levante friendly amid a mass brawl and four red cards…

@iRDerv: Proper going in on our players. That’s the 4th/5th challenge that’s been poor.

@DickenPhil: That was coming after some weak refereeing and a failure to address an over physical approach from Levante. The ref carries the blame for that. And surely they could have agreed to play on with 11 each side?

@Bampynator: Some ‘friendly’ this is 🤦‍♂️

@DickenPhil: Wolves need to walk away from this game before something goes really wrong. They don’t deserve to play us. Bruno, take them off.

@Wolvoryan04: Exactly the levante players are out to break legs not play a practice match

@thedansolo1: Call this off before one of our lads gets injured

@WolvesNumber37: These Levante players wouldn’t of had a chance vs Mosquera anyway

@wolvespremier: …’we are the boys from the Black Country….’

@WolfBrick: Call this game off, no squad depth as it is and already lost Chiquinho playing shit house relegated teams.

@kingmichael_88: Abandon the game we can’t afford any injures from these thugs

@adamrobinson86: Awful tackles from Levante all game

@WhoIsCav: Wolves fans + players vs Levante fans + players, mass brawl on the Benidorm strip. Who says no?

@richthewolf1: Yeah walk off, not an official game. Nt worth the risk.

@DazLangham: Take them away from this game. Levante just want to kick lumps out of us.

@kingmichael_88: Absolutely disgusting should never play these again.

@Cart78: This needs stopping. Levante’s players have been far to physical for a friendly game. Proper dirty team

@juranceb01: This wolves friendly is unreal, players getting sent off and Levante kicking lumps out of everybody

@hector_cem: 4 reds in the match with two fights. There were 2 cool breaks for 5 minutes each. In total, the match was stopped for 30 minutes. there is no add time. and the match finished in the 85th minute . what a referee. levante – wolves

@NigeWolves: Levante sound like a bunch of right dirty bastards 🤣

@WolfWhoWanders: Flying tackle in on Mosquera. He reacts and our senior players pour on to the pitch. Big scrap and looks like a red card for both Mosquera and the Levante player …. friendly my arse 😳

@bluesofgoodison: Levante turning up just to kick the shit out of Wolves in a pre-season friendly 😂