Europa League - Everton cruise past AEK Athens

Eurosport - Fri, 18 Sep 09:55:00 2009

Everton cruised to a 4-0 victory over AEK Athens in their Europa League Group I clash at Goodison Park.

FOOTBALL Everton's Sylvain Distin celebrates scoring against AEK Athens during their Europa League match in Liverpool - 0

The home side dominated a match where both sides ended up playing with 10 men and first-half goals from Joseph Yobo, Sylvain Distin and Steven Pienaar combined with a second half strike from Jo proved enough for a comfortable win.

There was one late blow for Everton though as Louis Saha was sent-off in stoppage time.

Everton began the match with purpose and looked dangerous in the opening minutes of the match when Pienaar tested Diego Saja in the visitor's goal with a shot from outside the penalty area which Saja had to push around the post.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, making his full debut for Everton, took the resulting corner and after Saja flapped wildly at thin air, the ball found an unmarked Yobo, who was on hand to head home from close range.

The hosts doubled their advantage after 17 minutes and once again it was a centre-back who found the net from a corner.

This time Saja was not to blame, but his defenders were unable to clear the corner before it arrived at the toe of Distin at the back post, who poked the ball home for his first Everton goal.

It took the visitors 20 minutes to register an effort on goal and when it did come it was almost a fine equaliser from Pantelis Kafes, but his well struck shot was narrowly wide of Tim Howard's post.

Everton were outclassing their opponents and Jo could have added a third with a header before Pienaar collected the ball in midfield with eight minutes left in the half and rifled it past Saja from around 25 yards.

AEK were reduced to 10 men after 55 minutes when Carlos Araujo was dismissed for kicking out at Distin after a challenge between the pair.

The straight red card for Araujo snuffed out any hope that AEK had of getting back into the match and the game was already over as a contest by the time Jo added the fourth goal with a nice turn and shot after good work from Yakubu on 82 minutes.

There was still time for more drama though, as substitute Saha was also given a straight red after appearing to strike out at Garcia Juanfran in injury time.

Sean Calvert / Eurosport

Comment 12 - 31 of 31

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  1. Question-why isn't everyone going balistic about­ Juanfran pretending he was hit in the face when­ Everton's Saha only touched his chest? Obviously­ not a fashionable league the new Europa one. Perhaps­ Everton are not high profile enough to warrent repeated­ showing of this incident from every possible angle on­ all the sports news channels.

    From helen, on Sat 19 Sep 12:45AM

  2. #36 jb113s, At no point in any of my comments have i­ actually stated that i don't like Liverpool or­ scousers in general, and yes i have been to both­ Anfield and Goodison on many,many,many occasions over­ many years and i know exactly how far it is to walk­ across Stanley Park from one stadium to the other.
    I­ totally agree 100% with your point that Liverpool and­ Everton are both situated in the City of Liverpool­ hence both football clubs and supporters being scousers­ although my Everton friends beg to differ and like to­ be known only as Evertonians.
    If you have ever read­ any of my past comments whenever it has concerned­ Liverpool F.C and the over hyped Glory supporting Rag­ Scum or the 2 Cockney Pretenders, you would realize­ that there is nobody on this planet who gets more­ pleasure out of ramming Liverpool's wonderful­ History and Glory down their throats more than i do, i­ was just stating that my beloved Man City along with­ Everton have always been falsely tarnished as living in­ the shadows of our so called illustrious neighbors.
    ­ I would just like to stress as i always do that i­ wish Liverpool and especially Everton all the very best­ and good luck to both clubs during their European­ Adventures 2009/10.

    M.C.F.C Til' I Die.

    From Bilbo, on Fri 18 Sep 9:19PM
  3. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    WHO CARES IF EVERTON BEAT AEK 4-0?
    BENFICA WILL CRUSH­ EVERTON WHEN THEY COME TO LISBON!! WAIT AND SEE.­ BENFICA WILL TOP THIS GROUP!!

    From Vítor, on Fri 18 Sep 7:56PM

  4. Everton showed the class which most Clubs in­ Premiership exhibit in big European Championships. So­ keep it up in your future outtings both in Europe and­ England.

    4rm Juliuso

    From juliuso, on Fri 18 Sep 7:52PM

  5. Everton showed the class which most Clubs in­ Premiership exhibit in big European Championships. So­ keep it up in your future outtings both in Europe and­ England.

    4rm Juliuso

    From juliuso, on Fri 18 Sep 7:44PM

  6. Mun C - Post 32 - Errrrrrr, isnt this the same case in­ the "Champions" league??? where 2nd, 3rd and­ 4th can compete in it? Go back to playing Championship­ Manager you are embarassing yourself

    From bullheadboyuk, on Fri 18 Sep 5:05PM

  7. Billy post 19. Everton and the Scouse in the same city?­ meaning LFC we are about 2 mins walk from goodison­ making all of us Everton and Liverpool supporters­ Scousers.
    You may not like us but we dont care, well­ done the Blues from a scouse red...

    From Jack, on Fri 18 Sep 4:54PM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Championship football? Rather go down to a local park­ and watch some amateur football, far more entertaing­ than watching paint dry.

    From steviec, on Fri 18 Sep 4:26PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    who cares? "LOWER" reputation Eupora League­ is useless. UEFA should have a good view of this, they­ could not win in their league but to challenge each­ other in europe. Eurosport should post more­ Championship news rather than this...:(

    From mun c, on Fri 18 Sep 3:48PM

  10. sahas sending off was a disgrace, people go on about­ eduardo cheating, that player went down quicker than­ jordan!

    From stephen, on Fri 18 Sep 3:34PM

  11. Once again Everton in Europe and taking it­ seriously.
    They deserve every success for their­ attitude alone.
    Not an Everton fan but well done and­ keep doing what you are doing.
    Villa watch and learn.

    From Dave H, on Fri 18 Sep 3:31PM

  12. Once again Everton in Europe and taking it­ seriously.
    They deserve every success for their­ attitude alone.
    Not an Everton fan but well done and­ keep doing what you are doing.
    Villa watch and learn.

    From Dave H, on Fri 18 Sep 3:31PM

  13. watched the game thought that Billy looked a real good­ player can't half cross a ball, think Everton will­ go far in this competition but their league position­ will suffer as a consequence,

    From FoeyP, on Fri 18 Sep 3:28PM

  14. To soladoyeosikoya:

    Everton is not good in Europe­ though they thumped AEK 4-0. It is AEK that is not a­ good team. So I think even Spurs, or Portmouth, they­ may be ale to be AEK easily.

    To Steve C:

    As for AEK­ supporters, they are always very passionate. One should­ see those fans of Olypiacos when in the champion league­ this season.

    From Jacky, on Fri 18 Sep 3:26PM

  15. What's with Everton? Poor in EPL great in europe?­ It is the epl that takes u to europe and I hope they­ remember that. One season success is not good enough.­ But a showing in europe season after season will bring­ money to the coffers and thus enable them buy better­ players. Good luck this term though.

    From soladoyeosikoya, on Fri 18 Sep 2:57PM

  16. could be worse, little dweeb... could be a little loser­ troll that needs to spam newsgroups to get kix. LMAO!

    From David, on Fri 18 Sep 10:25AM

  17. Besides that, Just a word about the AEK supporters who­ turned up tonight.

    They were absolulety fabulous!­ Colourful and entertaining all evening. Even though­ their team were outplayed they kept up the jollys all­ night!!

    Guys, you are a credit to your club,­ yourselves, and football in general.

    FANTASTIC.

    From STEVE C, on Fri 18 Sep 8:40AM

  18. #15 Nicholas....No sorry Mate, I'm a Born and Bred­ Manc and have been a Man City Season ticket holder for­ the past 38 years but my affection for Everton goes­ back some 35 years ago, it could be said that living 4­ doors down from the late but great Brian Labone (A­ Gentle Giant & a really great Guy) could be the­ reason for Everton being my secret mistress, but then­ again i also delivered the morning newspapers to Alec­ Lindsey, Roger Hunt, Tommy Lawrence and Steve­ Highway's houses who also lived in the very same­ vicinity and close by.
    The reason as why i have­ this affection for Everton is a similar type reason as­ to why i have lived and breathed for my beloved Man­ City from Birth, we both belong to two different Cities­ that also house two separate football clubs within­ those Cities..."Man City & The Scum, Everton­ & The Scouse " and although we are at pains to­ believe it, Man City and Everton are wrongly classed as­ the second teams or the underdogs in our respective­ Cities compared to the falsely claimed or our so called­ illustrious neighbors, but it is also a true and well­ known fact that Man City & Everton were built as­ Family orientated Clubs and although we may not have­ the history of our falsely claimed illustrious­ neighbors, we will always be the real true passionate­ football supporters in our respective Cities, and for­ that reason alone i have always had the utmost respect­ for anything and everything associated with Everton­ Football Club.

    City Til' I Die.

    From Bilbo, on Fri 18 Sep 8:23AM

  19. Everton are the only club in the Europa League who­ actually take it seriously. I'll let you decide if­ that's a good thing.

    From Kearney, on Fri 18 Sep 6:53AM

  20. Great result for the toffees ( A glasgow rangers­ supporter )

    From aztectrooper35, on Fri 18 Sep 6:38AM
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