RON DOES THE SPLITS
TWO first-half goals made it a Blues cruise at Goodison as Everton took a big step towards the Europa League group stages last night. England defender Michael Keane headed his first goal for the club before Idrissa Gueye added the second in the first leg of their play-off clash with the Croats. Everton boss Ronald Koeman is clearly taking this competition seriously as the Toffees eye a place in next week’s group stage draw. Wayne Rooney, Leighton Baines and Morgan Schneiderlin started after playing in the win over Stoke and with a big clash against Manchester City on Monday. Koeman is desperate to be in Europe this season as he believes it will give his side the experience they need should they achieve Champions League qualification. And while it may be Europe’s secondary competition, it is a route into the big one – as Manchester United showed last season.
New boy Gylfi Sigurdsson did not sign in time to feature last night but the £45m buy from Swansea was paraded around the pitch before kick-off.
Flashed
The hosts started positively with Rooney, leading the attacking line in the absence of the injured Sandro Ramirez, off target with an early header.
Davy Klaassen then flashed an effort over before Everton were given a warning at the other end when Nikola Vlasic went close.
Everton’s forward play was opening up the Croatian side’s defence though as Cuco