KOEMAN’S APOLL-ED
EVERTON suffered yet more embarrassment in the Europa League after they were denied victory by Apollon Limassol’s 10 men in the 89th minute.
The Toffees were already scarred by their opening 3-0 drubbing against Atalanta and this poor result will do little to improve gaffer Ronald Koeman’s mood.
Everton looked set for victory after Wayne Rooney and Nikola Vlasic scored to overturn Apollon’s lead.
But defender Hector Yuste made amends for an earlier error that had led to Rooney’s goal by rising highest in the box to flick in a header from Adrian Sardinero’s cross.
The equaliser came just two minutes after the Cypriots had former Sunderland defender Valentin Roberge sent off for a high challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Boss Koeman said: “It’s really disappointing. We started poor without any confidence, making a lot of mistakes. But we had a good reaction. It feels like a defeat though.”
Koeman’s dozy players gifted Apollon the lead in 12 minutes.
Ashley Williams played the ball straight to Anton Maglica and he crossed for Sardinero to score.
Yuste then dropped an even bigger clanger nine minutes later as he tried to play it back to keeper Bruno Vale but he only presented it to Rooney who knocked it home.
After the break Gylfi Sigurdsson set up Vlasic for a cool finish to make it 2-1 to the Goodison men.
Roberge was then sent off for stamping on Calvert-Lewin. But Yuste headed home Sardinero’s free-kick at the death.
ROUND-UP
PATRICK CUTRONE’S last-gasp strike saved the day for AC Milan as they saw off Rijeka 3-2 in Group D.
Andre Silva and Mateo Musacchio scored either side of half-time to put Milan clear but BM Acosty netted in 84 minutes before Josip Elez levelled from the spot.
The 19-year-old Cutrone then struck a winner four minutes into injury time.
Zenit St Petersburg won the big game in Group L against Real Sociedad, opening up a three-point lead with a 3-1 victory.
Emiliano Rigoni and Aleksandr Kokorin put Zenit up before Diego Llorente replied before half-time. Kokorin struck again in the second half to seal it.
Steaua Bucharest came from behind to beat Lugano 2-1 to stay top of Group G.
Constantin Budescu and Junior Morais netted after Mattia Bottani had given the Swiss a half-time lead.
And a Munas Dabbur strike gave Salzburg a 1-0 win against Marseille in Group I.
LAST NIGHT UEFA Europa League Group A – Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0, Villarreal 0; Astana 1, Slavia Prague 1.
Group B – Skenderbeu 1, Young Boys 1; Partizan Belgrade 2, Dynamo Kiev 3.
Group C – Ludogorets 2, Hoffenheim 1; Braga 2, Istanbul Basaksehir 1.
Group D – AC Milan 3, Rijeka 2; AEK Athens 2, Austria Vienna 2.
GROUP E