Full-time: Wolfsburg 0-2 Everton
Everton finish top of their group with a game to spare thanks to an away performance that was pleasingly close to a cliche: resolute defending and swift, sharp counter-attacking. Martinez can take particular satisfaction from the performances of his defence, in which Luke Garbutt looked at ease, and also of Lukaku. The only downer on the night was an injury to McCarthy. It remains to be seen how serious that is.
89 min: Barkley has a goal ruled out for offside! It was a fine move by the away team and Barkley seemed to have time his run well before curling the ball past the keeper from 15 yards. And the German TV company hasn’t shown a replay. Hmmmmn.
88 min: A low rasper from Arnold hits the outside of the post from 23 yards!
87 min: Hibbert clears courtesy of a well-timed diving header. Everton are determined to protect their clean sheet here ...
85 min: De Bruyne hurtles down the left, shrugs off Osman, and slips the ball through to Naldo, whose cross is put behind by Jagielka.
83 min: Everton substitution: Mirallas off, Atsu on.
80 min: So far the only negative thing about this night for Everton has been the injury to McCarthy, the gravity of which is not yet known. But Lukaku is not hobbling and looking decidedly uncomfortable. It would be a shame if his game were to end prematurely as he has led the line expertly.
77 min: Olic, who came on in the aftermath of the win-clinching goal, sneaks behind the defence to meet a De Bruyne cross and head the ball .... it doesn’t matter where, because turns out he was offside.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-2 Everton (Mirallas 75)
That’s a superb counter-attacking goal. Lukaku did brilliantly to win the ball in his own half and use his strength to get away from his marker before splitting the defence with a perfect pass. Mirallas latched on to the ball, eluded Luis Gustavo and then fired low into the net from the edge of the box.
Updated
74 min: Ferocious shot from Schafer - a proper blockbuster from 25 yards - but Howard makes a strong save.
73 min: Everton substitution: Eto’o off, Barkley on. Surprisingly, he’s not wearing a cap and goggles.
72 min: Yet another sterling block by an Everton defender, this time Jagielka stopping the shot from Perisic.
70 min: Schafer lashes in a cross the left. Bendtner tries to turn it into the net with a Cruyff flick. The flaw in that plan is obvious to all but the Dane.
Updated
67 min: By the way, Krasnodor-Lille has finished 1-1 so Everton are through no matter what. Win this match, though, and they’ve won the group. Then they could field a dancing troupe in the final group game. If they wanted to.
65 min: Howard called into action yet again, as Perisic diddles at the edge of the area to create room for the shot and then sends a dipping one at goal. The keeper pushes it out for a corner.
63 min: Wolfsburg substitution: Malanda off, Caligiuri on.
61 min: Unbelievable miss! Lukaku raced into the box and let fly from the left. The keeper parried but only as far as mcgeady, who ran onto the ball just eight yards out and, with the keeper grounded, fired high and wide!
60 min: A rare outing for Everton into the Wolfsburg half. Eto’o takes it up down the right and scurries into the box. His shot is deflected behind for a corner.
57 min: De Bruyne delivers an out-swinging corner. Perisic flicks it on and Bendtner nods into the net ... from an offside position. This time the decision is correct.
Updated
55 min: Bentdner, who’s flickering in and out of this game, feeds De Bruyne, who is a consistent threat. The former Chelsea player twists and turns his way into the box before shooting low and hard at Howard, who turns it away with his foot.
52 min: Hunt has a pop from 25 yards. Straight at Howard.
49 min: The Everton plan seems to be to continue absorbing Wolfsburg’s pressure and try to score again on the counter, though so far in this half they haven’t had a chance to enact the second part. But they’re defending well.
47 min: Thanks to a sly freekick, Wolfsburg find De Bruyne in splendid isolation on the edge of the Everton penalty area. But the Belgian donks the ball over the bar.
46 min: “It should be no surprise at all that Wolfsburg are creating so many chances, they had a staggering 27 shots at goal last time out, 13 on target, Everton had 12, with seven on target. Everton won 4-1 but it was far from one sided,” announces Duncan Smith.
Half-time: Wolfsburg 0-1 Everton
Operation Smash and Grab 50% complete.
Updated
45 min: Luis Gustavo booked for tripping Mirallas as Everton looked like mounting another dangerous counter-attack.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 0-1 Everton (Lukaku 42)
Did I say the corner yielded nothing? That wasn’t strictly true. Because when Wolfsburg lost possession they were left horribly exposed. Lukaku had time to tread on the ball, recover, and continue his run from half-way before firing past the keeper! Everton are in front totally against the run of play!
Updated
42 min: Another corner to Wolfsburg, the fifth of the match, stat fans. It yields nothing.
40 min: Elsewhere in this group, it is currently 1-1 between Krasnodor and Lille. if that scores remains the same, Everton will reach the next round irrespective of what happens in Germany. Unless, if you want to get pedantic about it, they go on to field an ineligible player or walk off the pitch in protest at offensive cloud formations, or something.
39 min: Vierinha hurtles up from fullback to join the latest Wolfsburg attack. He makes it all t he way to the edge of the area and then forces a solid save from Howerd with a short from 20 yards.
37 min: Schafer, a regular menace down the left, lashes another fiendish cross into the danger area. But no one can get on the end of it.
35 min: Miralles cuts in from the left and then unleashes a swirling shot that Benaglio pushes over the bar with difficulty. Mirallas takes the corner but the hosts clear it with no bother.
32 min: Still Wolfsburg pile on the pressure. After Howard scrambles a cross away, De Bruyne sends in a corner. But Perisic heads wide. Continue to find space like that and the froward his sure to finally find the net. The law of averages says so.
30 min: The ref is whistled for stopping a Wolfsburg attack to allow Everton to make a substitution. Why he couldn’t wait until a natural break in play is not clear. But the change is needed because McCarthy has picked up an injury - perhaps a hamstring injury, judging by his gait as he trudges off. Osman comes on in his place.
28 min: Distin strides out of defence to begin an Everton counter-attack but Besic eventually loses it and suddenly Everton are short-staffed at the back. But Jagielka stands defiant and intercepts a De Bruyne cross.
26 min: Malanda wellies a long range freekick high and wide.
24 min: Everton are struggling to live with Wolfsburg, who are really in the groove ...
Updated
22 min: De Bruyne crosses from the right, Bendtner applied a foxy flick and Perisic turns it into the net ... only to be denied by an over-eager linesman, who flags incorrectly for offside!
Updated
20 min: De Bruyne is at the heart of everything good that Wolfsburg do. After dashing in from the right he sends a short just wide, owing to a deflection.
18 min: Besic sticks as well-timed tackle in on Malanda to foil a Wolfsburg counter.
15 min: Superb save by Howard! A rollicking counterattack had earned Wolfsburg a corner and they took a clever one to Hunt at the edge of the area. He cracked off a shot first time and the goalkeeper had to show a strong wrist to bat it behind with one hand.
13 min: Excellent work by McGeady to win possession deep in Wolfsburg territory. His reward is a corner. Garbutt then does a mean Baines impression by delivering an excellent set-piece to the back post, where Distin meet it with a strong downward header. The ball bounces onto the crossbar and over!
11 min: Perisic escapes the defenders yet again, but again his finish fails to match his movement. He ran on to De Bruyne’s canny through-ball but slashed it into the sidenetting as Howard advanced on him.
8 min: A scrappy interlude. “I must say the Everton looked very smart when they came walking out,” declares an approving Eric Hyland. “Why can’t the England team wear their traditional colours and not that awful all white?” Quite right: England should wear their traditional kit, which, lest we forget, is white collared shirts from Messrs Gann, Root & Co of 171, Fenchurch Street, London, plus white knickers, navy hose and caps.
6 min: Bendtner dances past two Everton players with the festive style and then offloads to De Bruyne. That was as good as the move got, but Wolfburg will be back soon, you can sure of that. They’re positively fizzing with pace and purpose.
Updated
4 min: The game is already living up to Martinez’s pre-match promise, though most of the good stuff is coming from Wolfsburg. But the hosts have just squandered another good opportunity after getting behind Everton again. Perisic was again the culprit, heading over from close range.
2 min: Trouble early doors for Everton as Schafer storms down the left and pings in a cross that Perisic controls before firing over from a tight angle.
The Wolfsburg Arena is rocking like 70s-era Scorpions even though it is far from sold out. And with a pleasing lack of formalities, the ref gives the game the go-ahead. Everton are in their away kit of Dover white, while Wolfburg are dressed like they’re off to a St Patrick’s Day parade.
Roberto Martinez to a microphone just now: “We’re looking forward to a very open game and it will be really interesting with the amount of chances that are going to be created, I’m sure of that.”
Speaking of Luke Garbutt, who starts tonight instead of Leighton Baines, the manager says: “He’s very young promising footballer. He’s been working for the last 7 months behind the scenes with the first team and today is a really good chance for him to show what he can do.”
Preamble:
Actions speak louder than words so I am doing this evening’s preamble in the form of a dance. Try it, it’s fun. And this match should be also, with a place in the next round up for grabs, lots of fine players on display, and Nicklas Bendtner on the loose.
Teams:
Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Vieirinha, Naldo, Knoche, Schafer, De Bruyne, Gustavo, Malanda, Perisic, Hunt, Bendtner.
Subs: Grun, Klose, Caligiuri, Olic, Trasch, Jung, Arnold.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Distin, Jagielka, Garbutt, Besic, McCarthy, McGeady, Eto’o, Mirallas, Lukaku.
Subs: Robles, Kone, Atsu, Barkley, Osman, Coleman, Browning.
Referee: Fernando Teixeira Vitienes (Spain)
Updated
.png?w=600)
