Dynamo Kiev vs Everton match report: Toffees crash out of Europa League as Dynamo punish errors

Dynamo Kiev 5 Everton 2 (Dynamo Kiev win 6-4 on aggregate)

Dejected Everton striker Romelu Lukaku during last night’s Europa League thrashing at Dynamo Kiev (AP)

Everton crashed out of the Europa League here and could have no one else to blame after being punished for poor defending by a ruthless Dynamo Kiev side in the Ukrainian capital.

The Merseyside club had led the last-16 tie 2-1 from the first leg at Goodison Park but suffered a crushing defeat in this return leg in Kiev, to go down 6-4 on aggregate, bringing British interest in European competition to an end for the season.

The crucial damage was done in the first half here. The home side opened the scoring courtesy of a brilliant curling effort from Dynamo’s Andriy Yarmolenko in the 21st minute. But the visitors managed to find an equaliser eight minutes later, Romelu Lukaku scoring in similar fashion.

Six minutes after that, though, Everton’s slow reactions at the back allowed Lukasz Teodorczyk to prod home. If that defensive lapse was not punishment enough, within two more minutes Miguel Veloso met a failed attempted clearance by the Everton captain Phil Jagielka with a volley that was deflected into the net.

The defensive mishaps did not end after the first 45 minutes. The second half was only 11 minutes old when Dynamo added another goal, Oleg Gusev finishing from close-range on the rebound.

The Ukrainian league leaders wrapped up their emphatic victory in the 76th minute when Vitorino Antunes let fly superbly from distance. It was left to a disconsolate Jagielka to head in a consolation goal in the 82nd minute.

Everton had been hoping to make a European quarter-final for the first time in 30 years, but instead completed a treble of eliminations for the Premier League’s last three remaining sides in Europe over the past few days following Arsenal and Manchester City’s Champions League exits.

While the questions keep coming about the current strength of English football, Roberto Martinez’s players have made a creditable run in this competition, where their form has generally been far superior to their Premier League form.

Martinez will now be able to focus on making sure that his side do not get sucked into a relegation battle in the top flight, with a trip to Queen’s Park Rangers their next game on Sunday as they try to build on the morale-boosting 3-0 win over Newcastle.

The manager remained defiant afterwards, giving credit to the opposition for an impressive display. “A couple of times we made some defensive mistakes but there was also some incredible finishing from the opposition,” said Martinez. “Some of the goals, it would be difficult to see them again in the same game.

“I don’t think it was a case of being in a position where we couldn’t impose ourselves. Once we scored the away goal I thought we would be stronger and tighter in our performance but it was the kind of night where everything they tried went into the back of the net.”

He added: “We always looked like a threat going forward and that we could score goals but the type of game it was, there were opportunities for both sides and our chances didn’t go in.”

He was keen to flag up the positives of a poor night in a far-flung European venue, and had high praise for his young tyro Ross Barkley, who has been criticised of late, saying: “Ross was a real threat for us and back to a very good level. He hit the post twice and sometimes the margins are very small. The way the game unfolded, there were plenty of chances but the difference was that the other team took most of their chances.”

“The second goal started from an attacking corner and sometimes those situations you can’t completely control in the game. It wasn’t a case of the personnel, I felt that Dynamo built momentum with the home crowd and capitalised on that.”

Man of match Yarmolenko.

Match rating 8/10.

Referee D Aytekin (Ger).

PA

Europa League quarter-finalists

Brugge, Dynamo Kiev, Dnipro/Ajax, Fiorentina, Napoli, Sevilla, Wolfsburg, Zenit

Draw takes place at 12pm Friday

Quarter-finals 16 & 23 April