Independent:
Romelu Lukaku double sends former club crashing out of the FA Cup
Everton 2 Chelsea 0
TIm Rich Goodison Park
For those who wanted FA Cup ties that matter, this was it. It was gladiatorial and for Everton and Chelsea everything depended on it. By the finish, Romelu Lukaku had killed off Chelsea’s season and Diego Costa and Gareth Barry had been dismissed. For the managers it was a result that defined their season. Guus Hiddink’s second spell as Roman Abramovich’s salvage operator will not, like the first, end with him lifting the FA Cup.
For Lukaku, goals have not been a problem; the ones that took Everton through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup were his 24th and 25th of the season. It has been scoring goals that matter. These mattered desperately. The first was a superb mixture of strength and precision. He held off Cesar Azpilicueta, cut through John Obi Mikel and Gary Cahill and then drove his shot past Thibaut Courtois. The question would be how Everton would react. Only Dick Dastardly, the villain of Wacky Races, has lost more leads than Roberto Martinez.
Now, Everton finished things. Put through by Ross Barkley, Lukaku looked up with the eyes of an executioner and fired the ball through his countryman’s legs. In the Main Stand by the directors box, middle-aged men leapt into each other’s arms. Their season would go on.
For Costa and Barry the night would very soon be coming to a halt. They had been niggling at each other all evening and now the Spaniard retaliated, almost appearing to bite Barry as he did so. This was his second yellow and Barry’s – for a foul on Cesc Fabregas – was not long in coming. One was howled off, the other left to an ovation.
Martinez had made his reputation in an FA Cup quarter-final at Goodison Park. It was Wigan’s emphatic 3-0 win here which persuaded the Everton chairman, Bill Kenwright, he would not have to look very far for David Moyes’ replacement. That tie had been settled by half time. When the interval came around for this match, the only pattern in the game was provided by the bruises dished out by some fearsome tackling.
Kenwright watched alongside Farhad Moshiri, who, having paid for 49 per cent of the club was seeing for the first time what his money had bought. There was precious little skill on offer but the atmosphere came as standard. For both of the great under-achievers in this year’s Premier League, it was approaching last orders in the Last Chance Saloon.
At Goodison and Stamford Bridge, it suddenly seemed very late in the season and everybody knew it. Chelsea thought the quarter-final important enough to pay for a blue-and-white scarf on every one of the 6,000 seats in the Bullens Road Stand occupied by the club’s supporters.
The play was frenetic. Costa, who had not impressed in the Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain with his fitness, began this match by driving into Barry whom he appeared to catch in the face. Seamus Coleman exacted some retribution on Pedro and was then clattered by Chelsea’s young Brazilian, Kenedy, employed as a makeshift left-back.
There was precisely one real opportunity in an unforgiving first half and it came when Phil Jagielka brought down Fabregas 25 yards out. Willian, who was probably the one footballer to show some fight as Jose Mourinho’s regime collapsed around him, sent the free-kick over the wall to be tipped into the Gwladys Street End by Joel Robles.
That was just before the interval and, as if to compensate in what had been a tit-for-tat, blow-for-blow encounter, Tom Cleverley promptly forced Courtois into his first save of the evening in the two minutes of first-half stoppage time. The teams walked off to boos for Costa and a rendition of Mr Blue Sky.
It wasn’t a blue-sky kind of tie. It was nasty, brutal and very dark. For most of the quarter-final, Costa had been prepared to be a theatrical villain for Goodison’s benefit but now, slipped in by Fabregas early in the second half, he showed his delicacy of touch by holding off Ramiro Funes Mori while taking the ball past Robles and sliding it across the very face of the Everton goal. The ball bobbled along what for Hiddink would have been just the wrong side of the thin white line.
Everton: (4-3-3) Robles; Coleman, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Baines; Cleverley, McCarthy, Barry; Lennon (Stones, 88), Lukaku (Niasse,90), Barkley (Besic, 90).
Chelsea: (4-2-3-1) Courtois; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Kenedy (Terry, 85); Mikel, Matic (Rémy, 82); Willian (Oscar, 73), Fabregas, Pedro; Costa. .
Referee: Michael Oliver
Man of the match: Lukaku (Everton)
Match rating: 7/10
=====================
Guardian:
Romelu Lukaku strikes twice for Everton as Chelsea’s Diego Costa is sent off
Everton 2 - 0 Chelsea
FA Cup Goodison Park
Paul Wilson
Two late goals from Romelu Lukaku secured Everton a place in the FA Cup last four at his former team’s expense, in a slow-burner of a game that finished explosively with both sides going down to 10 men.
Lukaku’s well-taken double brought some much-needed quality to an otherwise ordinary tie, though it was what happened shortly after his second that could have the greatest repercussions. Diego Costa was sent off for the first time in his Chelsea career for two separate cautionable offences against Gareth Barry, though replays of the second suggested he may have bitten his opponent.
He was not sent off for biting, just for pushing his head into Barry’s face. Though some of the pictures look incriminating, the Everton player does not appear to be making a complaint. Barry was booked for his part in the scuffle, then he too received a second yellow for a later foul on Cesc Fàbregas. “Gareth has said it is nothing to worry about,” Roberto Martínez said. “He is just disappointed he picked up a second yellow card.”
Chelsea were able to field a decent side after all the injury scares. Eden Hazard was missing but Costa was surprisingly restored after having to leave the field early against PSG in midweek. He seemed in the mood too, picking up a first booking after just 10 minutes for spikily getting in Barry’s face a little too literally, then tumbling in the area in search of a penalty from Phil Jagielka’s challenge when he would probably have been better staying on his feet.
Romelu Lukaku scored both goals against his old team, the first a wonderful solo effort, while Diego Costa was sent off on a miserable day for Chelsea
Costa even took his gloves off midway through the first half, though after a feisty opening the game had settled down a bit by then. Chances were few in the first half-hour. Kenedy could have opened the scoring after a run down the left but shot too high when he got a sight of goal, while Lukaku could not quite reach a promising Séamus Coleman cross at the other end after Leighton Baines had done well to find his fellow full-back in space.
That was about it for first-half goalmouth action until a couple of minutes before the interval, when Joel Robles was obliged to make the first save of the game, tipping a free-kick from Willian over the bar after Jagielka had been penalised and booked for a high challenge on Fàbregas.
There was still time for another set-to between Costa and Barry before the teams turned round, and even the first Everton shot on target, though Tom Cleverley really required more power and direction to properly trouble Thibaut Courtois.
Martínez had promised an exciting game to welcome the new major shareholder, Farhad Moshiri, on his first visit to Goodison, and this was not it. Though fiercely contested, the first half will not live long in the memory. This quarter-final was billed as the last chance of silverware for two clubs who have had disappointing seasons, and that was what it looked like. Disappointing.
At least Everton showed more attacking conviction in the second half, to bring the crowd to life. Ramiro Funes Mori headed over the bar from a Cleverley corner, then Ross Barkley found room to manoeuvre on the right and almost sent Lukaku clear.
It was Chelsea who came closest to scoring in these minutes, though, and possibly Costa should have done better than roll the ball harmlessly across the face of goal after Fàbregas had picked him out. In the context of an uneventful game the chance was a big one. Everton allowed Fàbregas far too much time and space on the ball and he found Costa almost instinctively, only for the striker to take the ball slightly too wide in avoiding Robles and leave himself an almost impossible shooting angle.
After an hour the game had finally developed into something approaching a full-blooded end-to-end cup tie, with Aaron Lennon showing up well for Everton and Barkley ending a promising move with a mishit shot into the crowd. A perfectly weighted through ball from Cleverley brought a glimmer of a chance for Lukaku, who saw the possibility straight away but was foiled by an even quicker reaction from Courtois, who left his line intelligently to get a hand to the ball and clear the danger.
Just as Martínez was preparing to send Gerard Deulofeu on to extend Everton’s attacking options, Lukaku opened up Chelsea on his own. Though Barkley found him in space on the left he was closer to the corner flag than the goal. There seemed no way through yet the former Chelsea player muscled into the penalty area despite César Azpilicueta’s desperate attempt to pull him back, easily slipped an unforgivably feeble challenge from Mikel John Obi, then turned Gary Cahill one way and then the other before finding Courtois’s bottom corner.
A goal of such quality after so much mediocrity seemed certain to settle the game but five minutes later Everton had another. Chelsea lost the ball from a throw-in in their own half, Barry diligently winning possession and allowing Barkley to find Lukaku, who ran in from the right this time and found Courtois’s opposite corner just as unerringly.
All that was remained was for Costa to see red for giving Barry another facial in retaliation for a heavy challenge from the Everton player. Though Barry, too, failed to make the final whistle the spotlight is clearly on Costa, whose previous crimes will be as nothing if the charge of cannibalism is added to the list. “I didn’t see it, so it is difficult to say yes or no,” Guus Hiddink said. “Diego was chased a bit in the game. Everton did not to anything outside the rules but they went after him.”
=====================
Telegraph:
Everton 2 Chelsea 0
Reality bites for Chelsea as Romelu Lukaku seals win
Sam Wallace, chief football writer, at goodison park
It is the nature of Chelsea’s dismal season that even on the day that the last chance of a trophy slipped from their grasp, and so too the prospect of European football next year, Diego Costa conspired to make life even more intolerable for them.
The Chelsea striker was sent off for two yellow cards, the second of which was for a head thrust into Gareth Barry’s head and neck that might even have seen the striker attempt to bite his opponent, although the evidence was inconclusive. If the Football Association decides that the offence did take place then it will be the last we see of Chelsea’s trouble-maker in chief for some time.
The chances are that Costa will not find himself charged on this occasion, even if he did press his face deep into Barry’s neck in the Christopher Lee fashion, chiefly because Roberto Martinez appeared to exonerate him in the aftermath. The Everton manager said that Barry had dismissed the incident and the midfielder was more concerned with his own red card, for a second bookable offence later on.
If Costa’s explosion was not bad enough, the game was decided by two brilliant goals from Romelu Lukaku, the striker sold in the summer of 2014 to accommodate the arrival of Costa, a decision that the club must look upon now with a sense of bewilderment. Their manager at the time Jose Mourinho is now gone, and Chelsea have lost out on one of the brightest young strikers in Europe.
Lukaku is the kind of goalscorer whom Chelsea would once have used the muscle of Roman Abramovich’s wealth to acquire but the game has changed now. Sitting in the Goodison Park stands for the first time was Everton’s new biggest shareholder, the billionaire Farhad Moshiri, whom the club hope will make them more resistant to losing their best players.
These were two truly brilliant goals from Lukaku and they sounded the death knell for Chelsea’s season. Even Hiddink veered slightly off-message after the game, reminding all concerned that he had at least rescued the club from the threat of relegation, recalling how, when he took over in December, there were some at Stamford Bridge “sweating” about just bad it could get.
In front of the new boss, and following the 3-2 defeat to West Ham at Goodison last weekend, this came at the right time for Martinez who has a place in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley. It was, in truth, an evenly matched game but Lukaku’s superb first goal disturbed the balance and there was to be no way back for Chelsea.
Martinez was still talking about the West Ham defeat as if it was some kind of administrative error that never should have happened and for which he and his side were somehow not culpable. Yet there is no doubt that a FA Cup run will lift the club after a season that has been underwhelming to say the least.
The only surprise was that Barry, on a yellow card for fouling Costa in the lead-up to the incident that saw the Chelsea striker sent off, then needlessly felled Cesc Fabregas for a second booking. Hiddink accused Everton of having targeted Costa but he can hardly have been surprised and where once the Brazilian was capable of playing on his opponents’ short fuses they seem to do the same to him now.
Costa had got himself booked early in the first half, a little harshly, for a stray hand that was flapped into the face of Ramiro Funes Mori who hit the ground like he had run into a lamp-post. As fingers were wagged there was a moment when some Costa-induced chaos might take over but Oliver gave him a yellow card and that was enough.
Costa was a surprise start given that he had requested to come off in the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday which was the end of Chelsea’s Champions League lives. Ideally, Hiddink said, Costa would not have played at Goodison but it was an all or nothing game and player and manager decided to take the risk.
Martinez’s team started the stronger, pressing all over the pitch and not permitting their visitors to linger on the ball. Aaron Lennon was a difficult presence to contain for the 20-year-old Brazilian left-back Kenedy, although the Chelsea man never shied away from the task. Joel Robles, the FA Cup alternative to Tim Howard, made one fine save from Willian’s free-kick late in the half.
John Terry was back for Chelsea, albeit only on the bench. Gary Cahill did make one fine saving tackle when Barkley broke away on 52 minutes down the right and played in Lukaku down the right channel, where he was stopped by one of Cahill’s trademark tackles.
Not until just before the hour did Costa get his first sight of goal, a move that started with Branislav Ivanovic’s quick forward pass through the Everton midfield to the feet of Fabregas, who turned and moved it on to Costa. The striker took the ball wide of Robles and then, as the angle reduced to almost nothing, failed to squeeze the ball between the posts with his left foot.
Lukaku’s first goal began when he picked the ball up nowhere near goal on the left side and brushed Cesar Azpilicueta aside before going past John Obi Mikel and Cahill. His right foot shot past Courtois was hit with great composure. His second was just as good, from Barkley’s pass he beat the Chelsea goalkeeper comfortably from the right side of the area.
Chelsea finished with substitute Terry and Cahill up front, and Loic Remy thrown on as well. Costa was already in the changing rooms by then, reflecting on another day when his temper got the better of him.
======================
Mail :
Everton 2-0 Chelsea:
Romelu Lukaku fires Roberto Martinez's side into the FA Cup semi-finals as Diego Costa sees red for apparent bite on Gareth Barry in battle of the Blues at Goodison Park
Everton striker Romelu Lukaku broke the deadlock with a superb solo effort with 13 minutes remaining
Lukaku doubled his tally for the evening with a fierce shot through the legs of Thibaut Courtois at Goodison Park
Joel Robles produced a smart save from a 25-yard Willian free-kick in one of the few chances in the first 45 minutes
Diego Costa very nearly scored from a tight angle but his shot flashed past the far post just shy of the hour-mark
Costa saw red for an ugly altercation involving Gareth Barry who himself was sent off for second bookable offence
By ROB DRAPER FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY
Michael Oliver became the first English referee to send off Costa as he over-stepped the mark one too many times in the latter stages
For one of those men produced a defining performance, scoring two goals, one of them quite outstanding, as he thrust aside multiple Chelsea defenders to finish sublimely.
The other striker is embroiled in a fresh controversy, his jaws appearing to close around the neck of Gareth Barry in a fashion made familiar by Luis Suarez. The fact that Costa seemed to pull back from the apparent intent to bite at the last moment may yet save him.
Yet there is additional footage available that suggests otherwise or contrary evidence from Gareth Barry – and Roberto Martinez indicated that Barry did not seem to think he had been bitten – then a lengthy ban awaits.
Roberto Martinez seemed to think it was all part of the magic of the FA Cup. ‘Diego Costa has a fighting spirit,’ he said. ‘I don’t think it was much. Whatever happens with Diego Costa, I think we should see it as what we want to see in a cup game, real emotions. And I’m sure the players will have shaken it off at the end of the game and there is nothing to look back at.’
That may be. And for Martinez, whose season had been brought back from a precipice, who had re-galvanised a fraught Goodison Park, is was indeed frustrating that a key moment and a trip to Wembley had been overshadowed.
Yet at Goodison they won’t worry much over the rights and wrongs of Diego Costa. They had just witnessed an exceptional goal of considerable strength and no little skill from Lukaku and a famous victory.
In front of their new billionaire majority shareholder, Fahrad Moshri, Everton had made a statement of intent. Their season will not now wither and die; it will at least last until April and the future will be approached with boldness, with Moshri vowing to keep the club’s young stars. That said, with John Stones dropped after last week’s collective defensive meltdown against West Ham. Everton showed there is life with or without their £50million-rated centre half.
‘It was very satisfying,’said Martinez. ‘The pain we had at the weekend came out with an incredible sense of character and responsibility. Two teams went eye to eye. We defended very well. We kept Chelsea to one shot on target. It got up to a moment that needed a moment of magic. Romelu’s goal is going to be one of the best goals scored in the FA Cup and well worth it to take us to Wembley, a great memory for every Evertonian.’
It was indeed. It is not true to say Lukaku unlocked this tie alone. The foundation was provided by a rare, solid defensive performance and an aggressive display by Gareth Barry, wo targeted Costa from the start, not always legally.
And on both occasions he was fed with delightful balls from Ross Barkley. Yet that first goal was a prodigious solo effort, his strength allowing him to shrug off the combined attentions of Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic.
Azpilicueta came back for more but was just brushed aside as Lukaku headed goa-wards, as was John Obi Mikel. For the denouement, Lukaku swerved past Gary Cahill and pulled the ball wide of Thibaut Courtois. The second was more straightforward. Chelsea lost possession from a throw to Barry; Barkley fed Lukaku who outran Ivanovic and smashed the ball home.
As for Chelsea, the future seems clear. Antonio Conte will doubtless arrive. Some improvement is perhaps inevitable. Yet a team which seemed to be the epitome of solidity a year ago has crumbled and it is by no means apparent whether it can be rebuilt.
Costa’s frustration is presumably mirrored by the entire club; they just hide it better. They battled well for much of the gane, had chances notably a Willian free kick before half time and Costa himself on 58 minutes. Yet the next two months are largely an irrelevance.
‘It is difficult to judge whether I have been a success because success here is playing a final and winning a final,’ said Guus Hiddink. ‘But you must be realistic. This year is not just from the start, but from December when it was difficult to go fresh for the prizes. Success is winning FA Cup or Champions League but in December people inside were sweating where they were.’ So that is how 2015-16 will be judged for Chelsea, the reigning champions; the year we avoided relegation.
MATCH FACTS
Everton (4-2-3-1): Robles, Coleman, Funes Mori, Jagielka, Baines, Cleverley, Barry, Lennon (Stones 87), McCarthy, Barkley (Besic 90), Lukaku (Niasse 90)
Subs not used: Howard, Osman, Deulofeu, Kone
Goals: Lukaku 77, 82
Booked: Jagielka, Barry
Sent off: Barry
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Kenedy (Terry 84), Mikel, Matic (Remy 81), Willian (Oscar 71), Fabregas, Pedro, Diego Costa
Subs not used: Begovic, Baba Rahman, Loftus-Cheek, Traore
Booked: Costa, Fabregas
Sent off: Costa
Referee: Michael Oliver
Attendance: 37,283
=======================
Mirror:
Everton 2-0 Chelsea: Romelu Lukaku puts Toffees through to FA Cup semi-finals – 5 things we learned
BY DAVID MADDOCK
The Belgian striker netted a stunning individual goal and then added another against his former club before Diego Costa saw red
Everton sealed a spot at Wembley as a Romelu Lukaku double defeated former club Chelsea.
It was a fascinating, at times brutal contest, but one in which Lukaku proved not only the match-winner, but also the player the London club would SO much love to have in their side.
Chelsea dominated for long periods, and Branislav Ivanovic kept the striker so quiet, but when it mattered he burst into spectacular life, to prove once more you can't put a price in match winners.
And to make matters worse for Guus Hiddink's side, Diego Costa was dismissed six minutes from time, as his frustration boiled over into anger.
It was a titanic showdown with both team's season on the line, and David Maddock was there to discover just who would prevail, and who would be left with nothing to play for during the rest of the campaign.
Here are five things we learned.
1. Diego Costa is a prize....
You can fill your own words in here, cabbage or asset would do equally (though plum is personal favourite) given your team preferences, but whichever way you lean, there's no arguing that he generates energy where ever he goes.
A lot of it is in the form of hot air, but at least he gives a damn, which several clubs – including Manchester United – would certainly appreciate right now.
The desire the striker shows isn't to everyone's taste, and if you're an opposition fan you probably hate him, but he's an old fashioned forward in that he kicks just about everything that moves, and quite often those who don't.
For that, you will sometimes get a stupid red card.
2. He won't be on Barry's Christmas list
There was a real, mutual loathing between the pair that often threatened to boil over into something tasty.
Barry, as Everton's senior pro, probably took exception to the fact his team-mates were getting picked off one by one by the striker, and decided to take justice into his own hands.
Interestingly, Costa is not so keen when he's on the receiving end, and it made for perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the evening...culminating in that dismissal when Barry remained so cool and professional.
The Everton midfielder was booked again soon after though, his second to pick up a dismissal, leading to a tense finale.
3. Lennon has been on the happy juice
He's all smiles now, the sullen, unmoving character who on his first day at Goodison looked about as happy to be there as a nun in Stringfellows (actually, let's face it, ANYONE in Stringfellows) replaced by an enthusiastic, driven character.
It is some transformation, especially in his form, because he has been outstanding since the turn of the year, and his work-rate, ability on the ball and eye for a goal could well catapult him back into the England squad.
4. What has happened to Stones?
If Branislav Ivanovic at least looked settled again, until the final few minutes at least, the same can't be said for John Stones, who really doesn't know whether he is coming or going right now (though clearly would rather be going after getting axed AGAIN by Roberto Martinez).
The defender has come in for some stick this season, but really, it is puzzling why, because for all the fact he made a couple of concentration errors, he was still by far Everton's best defender in the long term absence of Phil Jagielka.
Now the skipper is back, Stones looks a better partner for him than Ramiro Funes Mori, who has obvious talent, but is still weak in the air in English football.
5. Lukaku returns to haunt Chelsea
Chelsea REALLY must be ruing Mourinho's fall out with Romelu Lukaku, and the subsequent decision to sell him.
The striker is the best in the Premier League right now, as his goals showed, and quite possibly amongst the leading lights in Europe.
He's a beast with dancing feet, and a true goalscorer too. Ivanovic kept him so quiet in this game, yet with time ticking down he suddenly burst into life and produced what surely will rank as one of the goals of the season.
Then he finished off his former club with brilliant authority.
£27m? A steal for Everton, he's worth more than twice that now.
=============================
Express:
Everton 2-0 Chelsea:
Lukaku ends Chelsea's hopes of silverware as Everton progress to FA Cup semi-final
CHELSEA's seasons normally end in May with the sheen of silverware but not this one... It is over in March.
By RICHARD JOLLY
A terrible week turned disastrous when Romelu Lukaku scored a five-minute brace to defeat them and when Diego Costa was shown the red card he deserved for an idiotic display of misplaced aggression.
And so Chelsea exited the FA Cup, three days after they were eliminated from the Champions League.
Their chances of defending the Premier League title were gone by Christmas.
Any hopes of a top-four finish were surely extinguished by Stoke last Saturday.
Now this, a third setback in a year of regrets and regression.
There will be no golden goodbye at Wembley for Guus Hiddink.
Instead, he suffered a first defeat to English opposition since 2009.
He will soon be part of Chelsea's history, just as Lukaku already is.
In a tale of Chelsea strikers past and present, one scored and the other was sent off. One was destructive, the other self-destructive.
Lukaku never found the net in Chelsea's colours. He hadn't scored against them either, until the last quarter of an hour last night.
Then he slalomed through the Chelsea defence, beating four opponents - indeed he turned Gary Cahill first one way and then the other - before beating Thibaut Courtois.
And, after he was found by Ross Barkley, he drilled in a second.
Letting Lukaku leave brought Chelsea £28 million but now, more than ever, it looks a mistake.
Keeping Costa carries its risks. He had been prolific under Hiddink. Yesterday, he merely caused himself problems.
He set the tone in a bad-tempered start. Chelsea's pantomime villain flew into Gareth Barry with a body charge more suited to the Six Nations than the sixth round.
Booked by Michael Oliver then, he was ignored by the referee 10 minutes later when he flung himself to the ground in a spectacular and futile attempt to win a penalty.
He had one opportunity, when he was unlucky. He met Cesc Fabregas' pass, escaped from Ramiro Funes Mori and Joel Robles and tried to score from the most acute of angles. The ball rolled agonisingly across the face of the goal. No one was on hand to apply the finishing touch. But he produced the wrong sort of response when Everton scored.
Chelsea were first two goals down, then a man down. Fouled by Barry, he reacted needlessly. For the first time in his Chelsea career, he was sent off.
Barry stupidly evened up the numbers two minutes later, collecting his second caution for a foul on Cesc Fabregas.
It was all watched by Everton's new co-owner, billionaire Farhad Moshiri, who has bought a 49.9 percent stake in the club, promising investment and ambition. But now their fortunes could change before he spends a penny on players.
They have gone 21 years without a trophy but now they are in the FA Cup semi-finals.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Romelu Lukaku - Showed his pace, power and prowess with two goals.
Ref: M Oliver Att: 37,823
EVERTON: Robles, Coleman, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Baines; McCarthy, Barry; Lennon (Stones, 88), Barkley (Besic, 90), Cleverley; Lukaku (Niasse, 90).
CHELSEA: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Ivanovic, Kenedy (Terry, 85); Mikel, Matic (Remy, 82); Willian (Oscar, 73), Fabregas; Pedro; Costa.
=========================
Star:
Everton 2 Chelsea 0: Lukaku comes back to haunt Blues and dumps them out the FA Cup
ROMELU LUKAKU kept Everton’s season alive – and more or less ended Chelsea’s.
By Paul Hetherington
Lukaku sank his teeth into his former club with a brilliant solo goal in the 77th minute after striker Diego Costa almost buried his into Gareth Barry’s neck – before thinking better of it – but was still red-carded for his trouble.
Everton boss Roberto Martinez said he was delighted to be in the semi-finals.
He said: “I am the one bringing expectation and every single player at the club has the right mental character. We wanted to get to Wembley and our chairman deserves that for what he has achieved.
“I can’t comment if Diego Costa did anything. It is a game full of emotions and there were two sendings-off, the referee played a very good game.”
Brilliant Belgian Lukaku stole the show from a footballing point of view.
For his first goal he beat Cesar Azpilicueta, Branislav Ivanovic, John Obi Mikel and Gary Cahill in a thrilling run before slotting the ball home.
And then, eight minutes from time, the Everton striker rammed home his 25th goal of the season from Ross Barkley’s pass to take the Blues into the semi-final of the FA Cup.
Then, in a dramatic finale, Costa was sent off five minutes from time after pushing his head into Barry’s after a running feud between the pair exploded.
And the midfielder, booked in the incident, was also red-carded two minutes later for a needless trip on Cesc Fabregas.
For both clubs, it was the last chance of keeping alive silverware hopes this season.
Everton were relieved they did that in front of major new investor Farhad Moshiri.
The Merseysiders, who left £50million-rated John Stones on the bench against the club who repeatedly tried to sign him last summer, were competitive from the very start.
Costa was in their sights and following two clashes with Barry in the first ten minutes, the Chelsea striker was yellow-carded.
Earlier, Tom Cleverley forced Thibaut Courtois into a first-minute save.
And when Chelsea came forward for the first time, Kenedy shot over from a promising position.
Costa – never far from the thick of the action – looked hopefully for a penalty after another clash, this one with Phil Jagielka.
But referee Michael Oliver ruled it was simply a coming together of the two players, rather than a push by the Everton captain.
Oliver also adopted a lenient attitude when not booking Kenedy for a foul on Aaron Lennon, which warranted a yellow card.
But a foul by Jagielka on Fabregas did produce a booking – and a free-kick by Willian, which Joel Robles turned over the bar.
That prompted an Everton response, with Courtois diving to his left to save from Cleverley.
Costa, meanwhile, continued to play on the edge, once spitting on the ground close to referee Oliver, who either ignored the incident – or didn’t see it.
It was Costa, though, who almost broke the deadlock in the 58th minute.
The Spain striker moved on to a Fabregas pass, took the ball wide of Robles, but saw his shot from a tight angle travel across the face of the goal.
In a tight battle featuring strong defending, Ivanovic produced a brilliant tackle to prevent Lukaku powering clear.
But there was nothing he or Chelsea could do to prevent the Lukaku late show.
==========================
