Everton carry British hopes in Europa League
In a dramatic night of Europa League football, both Liverpool and Tottenham were eliminated from the tournament. With ten-man Celtic also losing 4-3 on aggregate to Inter Milan, only Everton remain to carry British interest in the last sixteen of the competition.
Liverpool only held a slender 1-0 lead over Besiktas from the first leg, thanks to the controversial penalty taken by Mario Balotelli at Anfield last week. The Italian was in the starting line-up on Thursday in Turkey but his only significant contribution was an early yellow card. Ironically, he was later substituted before the penalty shoot-out which resulted in Liverpool’s exit from the tournament.
A perfectly struck shot from Tolgay Arslan brought the home side level in the tie after 72 minutes and they nearly snatched it in the closing seconds when Demba Ba smashed the ball against the crossbar from six yards. Besiktas proved lethal from the penalty spot and were matched by Liverpool until Dejan Lovren fired his effort over the bar.
Tottenham appeared to hold every chance for their second leg tie with Fiorentina but coach Mauricio Pochettino was mindful of the weekend Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley. He made seven changes from their recent 2-2 draw with West Ham in the Premiership but they may still have gone through but for a terrible miss by Roberto Soldado. A defensive lapse by Federico Fazio allowed Mario Gomez to put the Italians ahead in the tie before another mistake, this time from Vertonghen, gifted Mohamed Salah with a second.
Celtic had fought valiantly to gain a 3-3 draw at home and showed plenty of determination at the San Siro. However, their task became almost hopeless when Virgil van Dyck was dismissed in the 36th minute. Fredy Guarin finally sealed their fate with a rasping winner in the 88th minute.
Everton’s place in the last sixteen was never seriously in doubt despite going a goal down at home to Young Boys. The Toffees had taken a commanding 4-1 lead in the first leg and extended that to 7-2 by the end of the match, Romelu Lukaku adding two to the hat-trick that he had accrued in Switzerland.
Everton’s reward is a clash with Dynamo Kiev while Inter Milan face Wolfsburg. Fiorentina meet Italian rivals Roma with Napoli paired with Dynamo Moscow. Villarreal will play Sevilla, Dnipro have been matched with Ajax and Zenit St Petersburg face Torino. Liverpool’s conquerors Besiktas meet Club Brugge with the ties to be played on March 12th and 19th.
