Roberto Martinez does his best Bill Murray impression
It was a moment of turgid small-talk more apt for the awkward interchanges between presenters of the Eurovision song contest.
As Youri Djorkaeff plucked Everton’s name out during the Europa League draw in Monaco, Uefa General Secretary Gianni Infantino turned to the former France midfielder and asked if he was a fan.
When Djorkaeff demurred he asked one of the hosts...” No?,” he eventually declared. “Nevermind, I was trying to get them one more fan.”
It was more a banal attempt at frothy humour than any genuine barb, but the Italian’s flippancy about the Blues was made to look daft on his organisation’s own website as officials and players from the other clubs involved began to give their reactions to the draw.
First Maarten Martens, a midfielder at Greek side PAOK said: “It’s a good draw, especially avoiding Everton from the third pot.”
Then Dynamo Kyiv’s Andriy Yarmolenko piped up: “I was hoping for Inter or at least Everton - it would have been exciting to play them.”
Lille manager Rene Girard was next: “It’s a very complicated draw. Wolfsburg and Everton are very good.
“This group is as tough as Monaco’s in the Champions League.”
That sentiment was echoed by Klaus Allofs, Wolfsburg’ssporting director, who admitted that Group H is full of challenges, just like a competition on the whole which is rising in prominence in relation to its richer relative the Champions League.
“It looks a bit like a Champions League group,” he said.
“It won’t be easy. That said, the other groups are not really any easier.”
In short - there’s a healthy abundance of respect for the Blues considering they haven’t played in Europe since 2010.
Why?
You can only imagine the trend of Premier League sides tipping their hats to Roberto Martinez’s impressive footballing revolution has spread to the continent. Last season’s wins over Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea - particularly the six points snatched triumphantly from David Moyes’ Red Devils - sent out a message that echoed further than the Premier League.
Then consider a summer when Everton’s board have flexed their financial muscles and backed Martinez to the hilt; blowing others - such as Wolfsburg - out of the water as they secured the £28m signature of Romelu Lukaku.
And earlier this week further headlines were made when Samuel Eto’o rejected a move to Champions League side Roma and the lure of the San Siro and AC Milan to check-in at Goodison instead.
Evertonians won’t have cared about Infantini’s nonsense anyway, they were too busy scrolling through flight and hotel deals online ensuring they could be there when the Blues roll-up in Krasnodar, Wolfsburg and Lille, with the words of Martinez - who described them as among the best travelling supporters in world football - in their ears.
The Catalan and his stylish team are made for Europe.
They’re likely to win over even more admirers starting next month.
Source: Echo
