Gerard Deulofeu’s knack of enchanting audiences while dissecting opponents with utterly ruthless incision not only illuminated a dank December Teesside night but propelled Everton into the Capital One Cup semi-finals.
Try as they might – and Aitor Karanka’s side tried very hard – Middlesbrough could never quite get to grips with either Deulofeu’s exquisite wing play or Romelu Lukaku’s command at centre-forward.
Karanka regards his good friend Roberto Martínez as a mentor and role model and Everton’s manager duly offered Boro a masterclass in technical proficiency and imaginative ambition as goals from Deulofeu and Lukaku – who else? – separated the sides.
Demonstrating that it really is possible to combine multiple stepovers with high efficiency “end product” the former Barcelona prodigy created Lukaku’s goal in such audacious fashion that Boro never quite recovered.
“A very satisfying performance, reaching the semi-finals is a terrific feeling,” said Martínez. “It was a really special atmosphere, the home crowd created a quite incredible environment but we coped with a very good, sophisticated, Middlesbrough side who deserve to be in the Premier League.
“We scored two magnificent goals but I don’t get impressed with Gerard because I see him train every day. He has a natural talent that’s as good as it gets, that players dream of having and anyone would pay to watch. He’s phenomenal.”
The game’s quick tempo befitted an occasion when everything seemed amplified. A ground accustomed to housing its share of empty seats for Championship fixtures was packed to near capacity, the decibel count had heightened appreciably and the evening felt electrified by a collective adrenaline surge.
Two of the most detached individuals inhabited the technical areas. While Martínez had balanced his desire to win this cup against the need to prevent key performers burning out by making three changes from Everton’s last game, Karanka proved even more coolly calculating, refreshing six positions ahead of Friday’s important league game at Ipswich.
Such alterations failed to prevent his side beginning brightly with Joel Robles swiftly needing to show off his reflexes by repelling Stewart Downing’s beautifully curved free kick. Shortly afterwards Everton’s goalkeeper attempted to gather a corner and, with Christian Stuani blatantly barging into him, the ball hit him on the head and bounced into the back of the net. It was an easy one for the referee Roger East to disallow.
Suitably spurred, Martínez’s players responded with a legitimate goal. On Monday Karanka had enthused about the time he spent coaching the teenage Deulofeu in Spain’s junior teams and raved about the winger’s talent. As if to emphasise this was no hyperbole, the man of the moment seized possession near the halfway line and proceeded to sashay beyond a couple of defenders, leaving Ben Gibson on his backside, before unleashing a low shot from the edge of the area. As it whizzed into the bottom corner with unerring accuracy, the sense of disappointment in the stands was almost palpable.
Teesside optimism turned to resignation as Deulofeu provided one of the best assists likely to be seen anywhere all season. A delightful Everton passing move concluded with the game’s principal talent teasing and tormenting Fernando Amorebieta with a series of dazzling, bewitching, stepovers. With the home defence thoroughly bamboozled, Deulofeu delivered a fine cross. Connecting cleanly, Lukaku expertly headed it beyond Tomás Mejías.
Undeterred, Boro fans turned their attentions to Alastair Brownlee, the popular match commentator for BBC Radio Tees recently diagnosed with bowel cancer. Having illuminated all four sides of the stadium by lighting up their mobile phones like torches they chorused: “Ali Brownlee, he’s one of us.”
Down on the pitch, Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton were finding the going tough in central midfield but, like their team-mates creditably refused to give up.
It was not so much that Boro were playing badly just that Everton at times seemed to be belong in a different stratosphere. Much of the visitors’ passing, movement and ball retention was breathtaking while in the goalscorers Karanka’s normally assured defence found themselves confronted by irrepressible opponents.
Attempting to limit the potential damage, Boro’s manager replaced Carlos de Pena with the more defensively minded Adam Forshaw. Sure enough this switch seemed to galvanise the hosts and Robles did well to keep Downing’s crisply struck left-foot shot out.
Stuani might have subsequently pulled a goal back but headed wastefully over. By then Everton had survived a handball penalty appeal against Ramiro Funes Mori and, perhaps relaxing a little, were experiencing some slapdash moments.
They refocused once Leighton Baines made his long awaited return from injury. Minutes into his first appearance of the season the left-back was booked for lecturing the referee, Dani Ayala having been lucky to escape serious sanction for apparently elbowing Deulofeu. “An unfortunate incident,” said Martínez, diplomatically.
“Everton are an amazing team with an amazing manager,” said Karanka. “All we can do is congratulate them. They had to play at 100% to beat us but it was very difficult to stop Deulofeu.”
