Romelu Lukaku was back to his best as Everton took a giant step toward the Europa League last-16 with an emphatic victory against BSC Young Boys at the Stade de Suisse.
The home side took the lead through Guillaume Hoarau’s wonderful finish on nine minutes, but a Lukaku-inspired response earned a massive away win for Roberto Martinez’s side.
The 21-year-old scored twice in the first half – either side of Seamus Coleman’s tap-in – before netting his hat-trick ten minutes after the restart.
And he could have added to his tally with a host of good opportunities while Hoarau missed the chance to reduce the deficit from the spot, but a three-goal cushion should be more than enough for Everton when the tie resumes at Goodison Park.
The visitors started brightly, with Lukaku’s angled header going close, but Young Boys were ahead inside ten minutes in style. Hoarau occupied space on the edge of the Everton area and guided in a sublime strike into the top right corner, with an extended Tim Howard nowhere near the effort.
The Toffees responded to the setback when Lukaku and Ross Barkley tested the hands of Yvon Mvogo. And they found an equaliser 13 minutes after going behind as their Belgian striker converted Gareth Barry’s delivery with an expert header.
And Roberto Martinez’s side were soon ahead when Coleman capped off a slick counter-attack. Steven Naismith took up an intelligent area inside the box and picked out the Republic of Ireland international with a crisp pass across the face of goal, which was duly poked home by the 26-year-old.
The away side extended their lead before the break, replicating their swift break-away for the second. A skilful flick freed Barry inside the area, who produced and unselfish ball into the path of Lukaku and the 21-year-old made no mistake from close-range.
However, there was a let-off for the Toffees as Sekou Sanogo hammered the ball past Howard but, fortunately for the visitors, the 25-year-old had to watch his effort cannon off the crossbar.
After a cagey opening to the second half, Everton all but sealed the two-legged tie with a fourth goal when Lukaku bagged his hat-trick. The former Chelsea striker charged through the Young Boys’ defence with a powerful run, before confidently clipping the ball over an on-rushing Mvogo.
The home side had the perfect opportunity to reduce the arrears when Stones clumsily took out Hoarau, which resulted in a red card for the defender, but the former Paris Saint-Germain striker fired his spot-kick wildly over the bar.
Lukaku should have tapped home his fourth and Everton’s fifth when substitute Luke Garbutt supplied an inch-perfect cross into the box but, with his feet in a tangle, the ball bobbled wide.
Mvogo then denied Lukaku once more with a brilliant stop but, despite their numerical disadvantage, Everton were largely untroubled and eased to victory.
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