LONDON: A Romelu Lukaku hat-trick in a 4-1 win for Everton at Young Boys and a thrilling 3-3 draw between Celtic and Inter Milan ushered in the return of the Europa League as the first knockout stage delivered a glut of goals on Thursday.

Lukaku looked like the dynamic target man Everton fans have been hoping to see all season and could have scored five in a rampant display in the first leg of their last-32 clash in Switzerland.

“I’ve always said Rom is quite unique because you don’t get many players with that pace and power,” Everton boss Roberto Martinez said on the club website.

The Belgium striker’s perfect treble of right-footed, left-footed and headed goals were among the highlights of a superb end-to-end encounter and leave the Toffees with one foot in the last 16, but the Premier League’s other representatives in the competition still have work to do.

A late Mario Balotelli penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 win against Turkish league leaders Besiktas at Anfield, while Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Fiorentina at White Hart Lane, meaning they must now score in the return in Florence next week.

At Celtic Park, five of the six goals came in a dramatic opening 45 minutes with Inter denied victory after conceding a goal three minutes into stoppage time to Celtic’s John Guidetti in a duel between two former European champions. Rodrigo Palacio had earlier scored twice for Inter.

“I’m so proud of the boys,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila told BT Sport. “In the second half we controlled the game and had three or four chances and scored at the end.”

On an action-packed night as Europe’s second-tier competition resumed, Napoli scoring three times in the opening 27 minutes against Trabzonspor through Henrique, Gonzalo Higuain and Manolo Gabbiadini, before Duvan Zapata added a fourth in stoppage time in a 4-0 win.

Napoli were considerably happier than Serie A rivals AS Roma whose status among the favourites looked questionable after a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Feyenoord.

BERNE: Everton’s Romelu Lukaku (L) heads the ball to score past BSC Young Boys goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo during their Europa League match.—AFP

While Gervinho opened the scoring for Roma with a deft flick from close range, Colin Kazim Richards netted a simple chance to level the scores with a potentially precious away goal.

The build-up to the Roma-Feyenoord match was marred by fans of the Dutch visitors clashing with police, injuring several officers in a rampage through the capital city.

It was a frustrating night for another Italian team as Torino were pegged back in a 2-2 home draw with Athletic Bilbao.

BALOTELLI CAUSES FUSS

Liverpool, one of the eight teams to have dropped into the Europa League from the Champions League, needed an 85th-minute penalty from maverick striker Balotelli to take a first-leg advantage against Besiktas.

But typically with Balotelli, the finale was not without controversy as the Italian striker wrestled the ball off designated penalty taker and captain for the night Jordan Henderson, before firing home.

Henderson momentarily appeared unhappy, as did Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, but they were soon congratulating Balotelli after he converted for the winning goal.

“Jordan should have taken that penalty. Rules are rules. Mario’s been a bit mischievous,” said injured Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, speaking in his role as a pundit for British broadcaster ITV. “Jordan is the captain and Mario showed Jordan a bit of disrespect there.”

In-form Dutch striker Das Bost scored twice in Bundesliga high-fliers VfL Wolfsburg’s 2-0 win over Sporting Lisbon, taking his tally to 10 goals in six games in all competitions.

Defending champions Sevilla stayed on course to retain their title with a 1-0 home win over Borussia Moenchengladbach thanks to a Vicente Iborra goal, while Villarreal beat Salzburg 2-1 and Ajax Amsterdam beat Legia Warsaw 1-0.

Highly-rated winger Claudio Beauvue sparked little-known Guingamp’s recovery from a goal down against Dynamo Kiev, scoring his 20th goal in all competitions to help the French team win 2-1.

Elsewhere, Brazil forward Hulk scored Zenit St Petersburg’s goal in a 1-0 win at former European champions PSV Eindhoven, and there were also wins for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Club Brugge. The second legs take place next week.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2015

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