Lyon 3 Everton 0: Ten-man Toffees dumped out of Europa League after goals from Bertrand Traore, Houssem Aouar and Memphis Depay win it for French side
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EVERTON are out of Europe – and surely David Unsworth’s job hopes are over now too.
Unsworth was already fighting an uphill battle to be made the Toffees’ permanent boss after defeats in his first two games in caretaker charge.
But this loss in Lyon means the Toffees are out of the Europa League with two games still to go.
And not even a Premier League win over Watford on Sunday is likely to be enough now for Unsworth to be handed the full-time reins, not with Sean Dyche and Sam Allardyce both in the frame.
Unsworth’s second-string side came unstuck in the second half, with Bertrand Traore putting Lyon ahead after 68 minutes.
Sub Houssem Aouar doubling their lead eight minutes later before Memphis Depay added a third two minutes from time.
A miserable night for the Toffees was compounded when Morgan Schneiderlin saw red for a second yellow card.
Everton's defeat leaves them rock bottom of Group E with just one point from four games.
SICKENING This is why Cuco Martinez was carried off on stretcher
A further blow for Everton was the horror looking injury Cuco Martina suffered in the first half.
The Toffees defender jumped for a ball with Maxwell Cornet but fell awkwardly on his back.
Cornet slapped Martina’s face to see if his opponent was OK, yet he was still motionless as medics ran on to treat him.
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After five minutes attention, Martina was put in a neck brace and delicately placed on a stretcher before being driven down the tunnel, with Muhamed Besic brought on to replace him.
Everton were fortunate to go into the break goalless but actually had a chance to score when play resumed,with Idrissa Gueye shooting tamely at Anthony Lopes.
Yet Lyon went ahead when Schneiderlin was unlucky to see his sliding tackle ricochet off Tanguy Ndombele.
And the ball caught out the entire Everton backline to fall for the lurking Traore, who rounded Jordan Pickford and slotted into the empty net.
The game was then over as a contest when Aouar curled into the bottom corner from Depay’s pass, after Pickford had saved from Mariano Diaz.
And after Schneiderlin was given his marching orders for a silly foul after earlier verbals, Depay headed in a third for the hosts from Jordan Ferri’s cross.
What They Said
Everton caretaker boss David Unsworth: "We can't cave in the way we do when we concede a goal. We need to rectify that very, very quickly."
And on Cuco Martina's injury, he added: "Cuco was concussed and complaining of pains down his neck. He’s gone straight to hospital for X-rays and scans. We wish him all the best.”
