As the final whistle blew on a momentous Wolverhampton Wanderers victory, Matheus Cunha stood as still as he had all evening, bent his knees a little, raised his fists slightly to the heavens and looked close to tears.
It was fitting that he did so while wearing the captain’s armband.
The Brazil forward has become the leader of the pack at Molineux; Wolves’ beacon of hope, their inspiration, their go-to, big-game man.
That is not to downplay the influence of Nelson Semedo, the man chosen to wear the armband and a player who sets an example on a daily basis in terms of training approach, professionalism and attitude.
But on matchdays, it is Cunha, 25, who leads and on Boxing Day evening the Wolves talisman led from the front, from the middle and from the wings in the deserved 2-0 win over Manchester United.
Cunha seemed to play three positions at once — a creative No 10, providing passes for fellow forwards, galloping wing-backs and marauding midfielders, a deep-lying playmaker dropping into space to collect possession and start moves, and a fleet-footed winger ready to embarrass United defenders with audacious turns, elusive changes of pace and, on a couple of occasions, outrageous drag-backs that United players of earlier generations would have unfurled but which this crop seem incapable of producing.
His performance included not just an ‘olimpico’ goal, a selfless assist in the final seconds to get Hwang Hee-chan’s goalscoring season up and running and some brilliant moments of skill, it also featured a whole load of shouting and gesticulating at team-mates who were not taking up the positions he wanted.
A man down, and now a goal down!
Matheus Cunha’s corner swings STRAIGHT IN and Wolves lead Man Utd 😱#PLonPrime #WOLMUN pic.twitter.com/H0T3LvhzxG
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 26, 2024
And for US readers:
A MATHEUS CUNHA OLIMPICO GIVES WOLVES THE LEAD OVER MAN UNITED. 😲
📺 USA Network | #WOLMUN pic.twitter.com/qAH9yMv7PT
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 26, 2024
At one stage he managed to admonish Rayan Ait-Nouri and Joao Gomes in a single, sweeping hand-gesture of a man possessed.
The only surprise was that, when Diogo Dalot let fly in the first half with Manchester United’s best attempt of the game, it was Jose Sa who clawed it away with a full-stretch save and not Cunha sprinting back to make a goal line clearance.
“He’s a top player — a special player,” said new Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira, speaking in a post-match press conference after Cunha had played the leading role in helping him become the first Wolves boss since Sammy Chung in 1977 to win his first two top-flight games in charge.
“He can do things that can make the difference in the small details. We worked on this corner but you can work a lot and in the end, nothing happens. But with this kind of player, things can happen.
“I’m discovering day by day, leaders inside the team. They are connected, they are in communication, they want to do something and they want to change things.”
Vitor Pereira celebrates Wolves’ win over United (Getty Images)
The dark cloud looming threateningly on the horizon is the likelihood that Wolves, in the not-too-distant future, will face an extended spell without their main man.
The Football Association-convened independent regulatory panel has yet to meet to discuss Cunha’s punishment for his extraordinary loss of composure in the wake of the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich Town in the final game of Gary O’Neil’s reign.
But when it does, it is likely that the Wolves forward will be handed a significant ban. A minimum starting point would appear to be the three matches he would have missed had the match officials witnessed his initial clash with an Ipswich staff member and shown him a red card for violent conduct.
There is a chance, however, that extra games will be added because of how the altercation became prolonged.
So Pereira’s coaching challenge is now two-fold. In the back of his mind, he must develop a plan for Wolves to operate without a player who has become the integral figure in their attacking plans — the man through whom everything good happens.
But in the short-term he must tap into the psyche of a player who yesterday seemed hell-bent on propelling Wolves up the table before his temporary absence.
“He knows that he lost a little bit of emotional control,” said Pereira of the Ipswich incident. “But he’s a good boy — a very good person.
“And he has the strong personality to not stay in that moment, but to help the team in every match that he’s playing. He performed very well because in his mind he wants to help the team. He is not thinking about himself, but thinking about the team.”
Cunha’s role in Pereira’s flying start to life in the Premier League has been huge.
He has scored in each of his last three league games with only Henri Camara, with five in April 2004, enjoying a longer run for Wolves in the Premier League.
And his talent means that in the not-too-distant future, Wolves will be forced to contemplate life without him altogether, with big-money offers from wealthier clubs inevitable.
In the shorter term they will face an unwanted taste of what that future might look like, and the destiny of their season might hinge in part on their ability to cope.
But for now, fans, team-mates and Cunha’s new coach can enjoy the pleasure of sharing a stadium with a man hitting heights that few Wolves players in the Premier League era have reached.
(Top photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
