Wolves winger Daniel Podence sent off for punching Como player after alleged racist abuse aimed at Hwang Hee-chan during pre-season friendly

Wolves winger Daniel Podence was shown a straight red card for punching an opponent in a pre-season friendly on Monday night after team-mate Hwang Hee-chan was allegedly the victim of racist abuse.

The Premier League side beat Serie A new boys Como 1-0 in Marbella courtesy of a headed goal by Matt Doherty in the 61st minute.

But the game's major flashpoint came seven minutes later when a coming together between players on both teams ended with Podence striking a Como defender.

Podence's punch landed shortly after several Wolves players were visibly furious at what they alleged was a racist remark aimed by one of the Como players at South Korea star Hwang.

However, there is no suggestion that the player Podence punched was the one who is alleged to have abused his team-mate.

Following Podence's dismissal, it was initially unclear whether or not the game would continue.

But after Wolves manager Gary O'Neil spoke with Hwang, it did.

O'Neil later said in a video interview with the Wolves social media team: 'Channy heard a racist remark, which he's really disappointed with.

'I spoke to Channy on it, checked whether he wanted me to take the team out, or whether he wanted to come off himself.

'He was keen that the team carried on and got the work that they needed. But obviously it's really disappointing.

'Disappointing that we have to talk about it, disappointing that it happened, disappointing that it impacted the game.

'Not ideal for a pre-season friendly. I mean, things like that should never happen.'

Wolves have vowed to lodge a formal complaint with UEFA.

A short club statement read: 'Racism or discrimination in any form is completely unacceptable and should never be left unchallenged, and Wolves will be submitting a formal complaint to Uefa regarding the incident.'