AITOR’S SICK AS DEULOFEU TURNS IT ON
SPANISH wizard Gerard Deulofeu turned on the magic at the Riverside last night – and no-one was less surprised than Aitor Karanka.
The Middlesbrough boss first met Deulofeu when he was a national youth coach and the Everton winger was a 14-year-old wanabee.
Karanka was so taken by his outrageous talent, he invited him into his office and told him he was destined for great things.
How he must have wished his assessment wasn’t so accurate as his young compatriot tormented Boro with mesmerising ball skills.
In eight spellbinding minutes before half-time, the 21-year-old scored one and created another for Romelu Lukaku as Everton ensured that they reached the last four for the first time since 2008.
In the 20th minute, receiving the ball just inside Boro territory, he was allowed to run unchecked towards the edge of the area.
And after sidestepping Adam Clayton and then Ben Gibson, he found the bottom corner of the net with a right-foot drive.
Boro pride themselves on a rock-solid backline. They hadn’t conceded a goal on home soil in their previous six games – but then again, they hadn’t come across an opponent quite as good as Deulofeu in that run.
And the Everton maestro wasn’t finished, turning goalmaker as on-song Lukaku notched up his sixth goal in his last five games. Ross Barkley’s sweeping pass found Deulofeu just inside the right touchline.
He tied the hapless Fernando Amorebieta in knots with a series of outrageous stepovers before dinking a cross on to the head of Lukaku, who glanced the ball past Tomas Meijas.
Everton’s opener had arrived just as Boro were enjoying their best spell after a nervy start.
Stewart Downing forced Joel Robles into a fine one-handed save from his curling free-kick and Christian Stuani had a goal correctly ruled out for barging into Robles moments later.
England left-back Leighton Baines came off the bench for his first appearance this season – but was booked within three minutes for arguing, after referee Roger East had missed Daniel Ayala’s elbow in the face of Deulofeu.