AndyC
Player Valuation: £70m
They came, they saw, they conquered.
Everton 1-5 Atalanta
Three thousand plus Italian supporters fully enjoyed their cold and wet visit to Merseyside as Atalanta cruised forward into the knockout stages with a comprehensive mauling of the Blues.
Everton closed their disappointing Europa League home game campaign against Italian outfit Atalanta. When the two sides met back in September, Ronald Koeman was at the helm and Atalanta scored a resounding victory.
For this return leg, David Unsworth was still in charge on interim terms and he selected a starting line-up of: Robles, Martina, Keane, Williams, Kenny, Davies, Baningime, Klaassen, Mirallas, Rooney (c), Ramirez.
Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini looking to cement top spot in the group picked: Berisha, Toloi, Palomino, Masiello, Hateboer, Cristante, de Roon, Freuler, Castagne, Petagna and Gomez.
Referee Jakob Kehlet and his assistants had made the short tri across the North Sea from Denmark.
A relatively bright opening from Everton saw a Martina cross only partially cleared and Klaassen fire over from the edge of the box. Kenny sent Rooney away down the right and his low cross saw Ramirez collide with Berisha, the Atalanta goalie who needed treatment.
Atalanta absorbed the early Everton pressure, such as it was, and with their first meaningful foray into Everton territory, they took the lead. From a corner, the visitors kept the pressure on and working the ball into the box, Keane lost his man whose cut back from the right side of the six-yard area evaded Petagna allowing Cristante to score from eight yards on twelve minutes.
Everton were struggling to find any real rhythm and cohesion while the visitors with the lead were happy to control midfield and wait for the opportunity to break.
It was nearly the half hour mark before Davies won a crunching 50/50 to send Mirallas into the box, where he paused before shooting only for Berisha to parry the ball into the path of Ramirez who blazed high and wide with the goal yawning.
The best Everton attack of the first half came on 37 minutes after Rooney found Ramirez, his back heel found Martina and his cross found Davies whose shot beat Berisha only Toloi to head off the line.
Williams picked up a yellow card on 43 minutes for a foul on Masiello before the half ended with Rooney drinking a ball over the top for Ramirez and Mirallas firing the knock back straight at Berisha.
Half Time: 0-1
No changes by either side at the break and it was a seemingly harsh decision by the Danish referee to award a penalty against Williams for a tackle on Cristante. Gomez strolled up and Joel Robles went low to his right to make fine stop. The ball cannoned around the area and was eventually cleared much to the home fans relief.
Gomez fired in another effort from the edge of the box that Robles went low to his left to save and a couple of minutes later it was Jonjoe Kenny with a goal line clearing header to prevent Atalanta doubling their lead.
On the hour, Atalanta replaced Masiello with Caldara and a minute later Nikola Vlasic came on for Klaassen who had struggled to make any real impact in the game.
Atalanta doubled their lead with a 63rd minute corner from Gomez that Cristante steered past Robles.
Further substitutions on 69 minutes saw Gosens replace Hateboer for Atalanta and David Unsworth give Morgan Feeney his debut at the expense of Kenny.
Everton reduced the arrears moments later as Mirallas found Ramirez in the area and he turned sweetly to fire a low shot across the face of goal and past Berisha.
Davies picked up a yellow card before Gomez set up Petagna only for his shot to go straight into the arms of Robles.
Everton used their third and final substitute on 78 minutes as Calvert-Lewin replaced Mirallas who had worked hard throughout.
Great work from the tireless Baningime saw Vlasic lay the ball back for Ramirez to strike a powerful rising shot that Berisha was happy to turn over for a corner.
Atalanta confirmed their superiority with a tremendous strike from Gosens as he latched onto a headed clearance from a Gomes corner to crash home from 22 yards.
And the salt was well and truly rubbed into Everton wounds moments later as Cornelius poked home to complete the rout.
Even in added-on time, the visitors looked to add more goals as their fans celebrated noisily and it took a last ditch tackle by Williams to deflect a Petagna shot wide after a poor giveaway by Rooney.
From the corner, Atalanta went nap as Cornelius bagged his second of the night to end a disastrous night for Everton.
Full Time: 1-5
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Williams off to Sunderland come January, hopefully.
