Everton return to Europa League in style with 4-1 win
Everton marked their first appearance in Europe since the 2009/2010 season with a 4-1 Europa League win over Wolfsburg on Thursday.
The Merseysiders were ahead after just 15 minutes at Goodison Park when Ricardo Rodriguez put through his own goal after deflecting a Steven Naismith shot.
A close-range header from Seamus Coleman (below) made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time.
Photo: AFP
Leighton Baines (below) added the third from the penalty spot two minutes after the break with Kevin Mirallas firing home a smart fourth two minutes from time after a fine pass from substitute Samuel Eto’o.
Photo: AFP
Rodriguez grabbed a consolation for Wolfsburg with a curled free-kick past Tim Howard in the Everton goal in injury time.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez is perhaps a rarity among Premier League managers in welcoming the mountain of extra fixtures that a successful run in the Europa League can bring about and he received an early reward with the comfortable 4-1 win.
“We have worked hard for 12 months to earn the right to play in the Europa League – the more competitions the better,” he said after the match..
The English side top Group H after rivals Lille and Krasnodar drew 1-1 in France.- AFP
Full results:
Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-1 Villarreal
Apollon Limassol 3-2 FC Zürich
Club Brugge 0-0 Torino
FC Copenhagen 2-0 HJK Helsinki
Partizan Belgrade 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur
Besiktas 1-1 Asteras Tripolis
Salzburg 2-2 Celtic
Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 FC Astra
PSV Eindhoven 1-0 Estoril
Panathinaikos 1-2 Dinamo Moscow
Qarabag 0-0 Saint-Etienne
Dnipropetrovsk 0-1 Inter Milan
Belgium Standard Liege 2-0 Rijeka
Sevilla 2-0 Feyenoord
Lille 1-1 FC Krasnodar
Everton 4-1 VfL Wolfsburg
Young Boys 5-0 Slovan Bratislava
Napoli 3-1 Sparta Prague
Steaua Bucharest 6-0 Aalborg
Rio Ave 0-3 Dynamo Kiev
PAOK 6-1 Dinamo Minsk
Fiorentina 3-0 Guingamp
Metalist Kharkiv 1-2 Trabzonspor
Legia Warsaw 1-0 Lokeren
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