Bradford boss Mark Hughes returns to Wrexham within the Carabao Cup stuffed with nostalgia of scoring one of many all-time nice worldwide targets in opposition to Spain on the exact same pitch

Mark Hughes will return to Wrexham later this month flooded with recollections of scoring one of many biggest worldwide targets ever on the identical very pitch.

Hughes, who grew up in Ruabon, a village six miles away from Wrexham’s floor, is heading again with Bradford Metropolis within the second spherical of the Carabao Cup.

He grew up watching Wrexham on the outdated Kop terrace – now demolished – and worte himself into Wrexham and Welsh soccer historical past in 1985 when he scored a shocking volley in a World Cup qualifier in opposition to Spain.

Hughes, then simply 21, noticed Peter Nicholas’ curled free-kick headed down into the turf by a Spanish defender, just for Hughes to fly right into a mid-air scissor kick, catching it flush at close to shoulder top to ship it into the highest nook. 

It stays one of many biggest worldwide targets ever scored, and one his then-team-mate Ian Rush described as an ‘absolute worldie’.

‘I bear in mind the ball going into the field,’ Hughes beforehand advised the Independent. 

‘I did not problem for the preliminary one – I simply stepped out, considering it would drop. It got here into my course and bounced fairly excessive. 

‘I really thought the referee had blown his whistle. I do not know whether or not someone within the crowd blew a whistle, however I believed there’d been a foul. The ball got here up and I believed, “Why not simply hit it and see the place it goes?”

‘I used to face on that terrace as a younger lad and cheer Wrexham on, so to do it in entrance of the Wrexham Kop was a particular second for me.’

Wales would finally miss out on qualification for the 1986 match however the recollections of beating Spain 3-0 in 1985 are nonetheless talked about round Wrexham.

Replays of the objective will now intensify as he prepares for his Bradford Metropolis staff to face fellow League Two facet Wrexham within the cup.

Hughes has beforehand instructed that that specific objective in opposition to Spain – which earned headlines globally – secured his transfer to Barcelona.

He regards it as one of many three finest targets in his profession, alongside his volleyed equaliser in opposition to Oldham in an FA Cup semi-final in 1994, and bagging the winner for Man United in opposition to Barcelona within the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup last.