We’re in it to win it

Leighton Baines has said he feels that Everton are ready to rub shoulders with the big guns within the Europa League and reckons it can also be the ideal environment to prove their Champions League pedigree.

The defender insists the Blues must aim high and target nothing less than lifting the trophy in Warsaw next year and he believes as does Roberto Martinez that playing at Goodison first can be a real advantage as they take on Wolfsburg tomorrow night.

Everton will face Wolfsburg, French outfit Lille and Krasnador in Group H – which some have described as resembling a Champions League group and Baines hopes that this standard will bring out the best in the team and help turn them into a side capable of competing in Europe’s elite club competition soon.

He told the Liverpool Echo: “We’ve got to think big. It’s a long competition but you want to get to the final of every cup competition you’re in and ultimately win them and that’s the aim.

“I heard our group described as being like a Champions League group in terms of the calibre of the clubs in it. I don’t know much about the Russian side but Wolfsburg and Lille are teams with those kinds of credentials which you’ve seen play at that level.

“You want to qualify from the group and go as far as you can, and you want the big nights at Goodison or wherever it is along the way.”