Everton fall victim to Angel of destruction
Friday October 23 2009
'OUT of many, one.' David Moyes will repent at leisure the poignancy of Benfica's club motto. He had warned his players to beware the wiles of Benfica's Latin American contingent, the magic of Pablo Aimar, the cunning of Javier Saviola and the elegance of Ramires.
It was the least heralded of the lot, though, who shone brightest. Angel Di Maria, the Argentine left-winger, tore Everton to shreds as Benfica, gifted to a man, blew apart the myth of Premier League primacy. Di Maria is hardly a household name; he boasts just three international caps. Yet here, he cast all else at the Stadium of Light into shadow.
Admittedly, he was faced with a makeshift Everton defence -- Moyes drafted in Dan Gosling at right-back, Tony Hibbert in the centre and handed a debut to former Sligo Rovers player Seamus Coleman on the left -- but his every touch was electrifying, his pace uncontrollable and his intensity endless. It was a performance of which the world should take note.
difficult
"He looked like a throwback to me," said the Everton manager, "a true winger, one who would have given a proper full-back an extremely difficult night. He did some really good things. But I have nothing but praise for the lads who played. They gave all they could but came up against one or two serious players."
One in particular. Vitoria, Benfica's ceremonial eagle, had scarcely had time to land on her perch by the time Di Maria was terrorising the visitors. Inside 15 minutes, his perfectly judged cross had picked out Saviola, lurking unmarked at the far post, to volley Benfica ahead. Twice more in the first half his delivery scythed apart Moyes' side, and the Scot was relieved to make it to the break with his team's dignity intact.
Their luck was not to hold. Within two minutes of the restart, Aimar had robbed the dawdling Marouane Fellaini on the edge of the box, fed Saviola and the Argentine slid the ball across to Oscar Cardozo -- the Paraguayan in Benfica's South American menagerie -- to tap home.
Barely 30 seconds later, Cardozo had a second, heading in after Di Maria teased a cross onto the striker's forehead. After Luisao nodded Aimar's corner over Gosling, stationed on the right-hand post, to make it three goals in five minutes and four in total, Benfica at least had the decency to turn off the turbo.
Europe's most fearsome attack were not finished, though. Di Maria cracked one shot off the bar and Cardozo fired straight at Tim Howard as the hosts unveiled their full array of tricks before Saviola grabbed the fifth. The architect, of course, was his irrepressible compatriot.
Everton's only consolation -- their likely qualification apart -- is that barely half their support were there to see the confirmation of their heaviest ever European defeat. Most had decamped to Lisbon's bars, in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer, to plead for mercy. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Rory Smith
Irish Independent
