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.”
Theguardian
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