The 2007/08 season was the year many Evertonians believed their side could have – and perhaps should have – won the UEFA Cup, but their campaign was almost finished before it got going.
There will be a strange feeling at Goodison Park when Everton host West Ham United in their next fixture on October 17 given the personnel in the respective dugouts.
Blues of course are only just getting to grips with former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez being their boss but the prospect of Benitez versus David Moyes where the Spaniard represents Everton and the Scot the opposition, might take some getting used to.
For over 11 years of course, Moyes, the man who gave Everton ‘The People’s Club’ tag, was in charge at Goodison.
However, despite all the good work he achieved over that time, including nine top half placings (including a Premier League best of fourth) with a team who’d finished in the top half once in the previous decade, there remained great disappointment over his failure to land a trophy.
READ MORE: What Everton did after Scott McTominay's 'disrespectful' foul on Lucas Digne
On this score there were two near-misses. Domestically there was the FA Cup in 2009 when Everton defeated Liverpool and Manchester United en route only to lose 2-1 to Chelsea in the final despite Louis Saha putting them ahead with a record-breaking strike after just 25 seconds.
The year before there was Europe.
In a short-lived era in which the UEFA Cup had five times in each group, playing each other once rather than the usual home-and-away format, the Blues breezed through to the knockout stages with a 100% record.
At Goodison, Ibrahima Bakayoko’s Larissa and eventual tournament winners Zenit St Petersburg, featuring future Premier League players Andrey Arshavin and Martin Skrtel, were beaten.
There were also victories at Nuremberg – where Evertonians enjoyed one of their most memorable European away days – at Alkmaar where the Blues ended AZ’s proud record of the longest undefeated home record in European competition.
In the first knockdown stage, Norwegian champions Brann were pummelled 8-2 on aggregate but Everton’s juggernaut ground to abrupt halt in the next round against Fiorentina.
An off-night in Tuscany ensured the Blues had a 2-0 first leg deficit to overcome in the return match at Goodison but despite dominating their visitors from start to finish on arguably the ground’s most raucous night of continental combat since Bayern Munich, the hosts were unable to find that elusive third goal and went out on penalties.
To make matters worse, in an era when lesser English sides such as Middlesbrough (2006) and Fulham (2010) made it to the final of the competition, Everton were forced to watch on as Fiorentina were dumped out by a very ordinary Rangers side managed by Moyes’ predecessor Walter Smith and containing another Goodison old boy, centre-back David Weir, who was 38 by the time they reached the final – just 36 miles down the road at Manchester City.
Both Blues players and supporters alike were left wondering what could have been but their European adventure had actually come dangerously close to being nipped in the bud as they made a meal of overcoming Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv just to reach the group stages.
Everton had fallen at the first hurdle twice in their only previous European campaign under Moyes two years’ earlier.
Controversially missing out on the lucrative group stages of the Champions League after Pierluigi Collina spotted a seemingly non-existent foul nobody else could see against Villarreal, a shell-shocked Blues side who had worked so hard to finish fourth and coming a lowly 17th with just 39 points a year earlier, were then humbled 5-1 away to Dinamo Bucharest in the UEFA Cup.
Therefore, Moyes’ boys could ill-afford any furthers slip-ups against Metalist in 2007.
The first leg at Goodison on September 20 was a tumultuous affair also with its fair share of drama.
Joleon Lescott headed Everton in front midway through the first half but Brazilian-born midfielder Edmar – who would later become a naturalist Ukrainian international – came off the bench to equalise 12 minutes from the end.
In between, Andrew Johnson had missed the first of his two penalties on the night.
Despite slotting his first effort from 12 yards home on 70 minutes, Johnson was forced to retake his kick due to encroachment with Oleksandr Horyainov saving.
Then, with just a minute remaining and Metalist reduced to nine men after sendings off for both Oleksandr Babych and Seweryn Gancarczyk, Johnson stepped up again only to sky his effort high into the Gwladys Streeet.
Such profligacy left Everton needing either a win, or a high-scoring draw of 2-2 or more to make it to the groups when they embarked on their 2,000-mile journey to eastern Ukraine for the return match on October 4, 2007.
When Metalist’s first leg scorer Edmar rolled the ball past Tim Howard on 21 minutes, long-suffering Evertonians must have thought ‘here we go again.’
Lescott restored parity just two minutes into the second half as the defender buried a deflected Steven Pienaar shot into the net from close range but the hosts were back in front less than five minutes later through Moroccan international Hicham Mahdoufi who slotted in a rebound after Oleksandr Rykun had hit the post.
James McFadden eased nerves on 72 minutes when his left-foot drive from the edge of the area levelled the scores again and put Everton ahead on the away goals rule while substitute Victor Anichebe coolly rounded Horyainov to net the winner with two minutes to go.
Dominic King wrote in the ECHO: “Standing on the touchline, covered in mud with speckles of blood dotted over his white shorts, Phil Neville had barely digested the evening’s events when he was asked about the importance of Everton clearing their first, treacherous European hurdle.
“‘I think we played everything down before the game but everyone knew what was riding on this tie,’ offered Neville, who looked as if he had been to hell and back.
“‘This was one of the biggest games this club has had for a long time.
“‘We didn’t play as well as we could but in European nights like this you need guts and determination and I think we showed it in abundance. It was make or break for us. I really felt that. We have failed too often at the first hurdle and we had to show our worth.’
“Absolutely. An evening that could have turned into a footballing catastrophe ended with Everton celebrating one of the most famous victories in their recent history; in truth, the significance of beating Metalist Kharkiv is immeasurable.
“That David Moyes and his squad find themselves in the pot for the group stage draw was thanks to them mixing sheer bloody mindedness with a smattering of class.
“It’s also quite likely that fear played a part in this stirring comeback, too.”
Now it’s up to Moyes’ old rival Benitez to try and ensure European nights return at ‘The Old Lady’ before the lights go out at Goodison for the last time.
