LONDON --
There were boos midway through the first half of the first leg at Goodison Park last Thursday. Dynamo had taken the lead as some dozy defending allowed Oleh Gusev to turn in a corner at the near post, and Everton seemed tentative going forward, indulging in the purposeless sideway passing that come to be perceived as a trait of a Martinez side playing badly. Gradually, though, the approach became more direct and it became apparent that Dynamo's back four was susceptible to the power and movement of Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian laid in Stephen Naismith to equalizer before halftime, then it was his late penalty that secured a 2-1 win.
A one-goal advantage, particularly having conceded an away-goal, leaves the tie in the balance. Dynamo seemed nonplussed at Goodison, first by the tepidness of Everton's display in the first quarter of the game -- could Serhiy Rebrov's side, perhaps, have taken greater advantage with a slightly bolder approach? -- and then by the intensity of Everton's performance in the final hour or so of the game. It is a dangerous, well-balanced side and maintained its seven-point lead at the top of the Ukrainian table at the weekend with a 5-0 victory over Illychivets.
How much of a test that was is debatable. Illychivets lies second bottom with seven points from 17 games, and would be a place lower had Karpaty not been docked nine points for breaching regulations over the use of player agents. More significant, probably, was Everton's 3-0 win over Newcastle United, itself in desperate form since the departure of Alan Pardew. Newcastle may be sinking, but the win, only its second in the league in three months, lifted Everton six points clear of the relegation zone. The danger hasn't gone entirely, but it has been significantly eased, and that means Martinez can give Thursday's game his full focus without worrying too much about Sunday's league fixture at Queen's Park Rangers.
It wasn't just the win, though -- it was what else it signified. Everton wasn't at its most fluent and, to an extent, Newcastle was as responsible for the margin of victory as Everton. But there were signs of Lukaku, who has been desperately short of confidence, returning to form, and the last-minute goal from Ross Barkley can only have helped another young player who has looked out of sorts this season.
"Probably Thursday was a real turning point in that moment when we managed to take control of the situation," said Martinez. "The first 20 minutes [against Dynamo]) was as bad as it can be in terms of suffering because you feel the anxiety and responsibility as a player then all of a sudden we found the way we should perform."
Whether Martinez's side is strong enough defensively to withstand sustained Dynamo pressure is debatable. Yet the pace of Lukaku on the break is a major threat and there's every chance of Everton getting an away goal that could propel it to a first European quarterfinal in 30 years.
Much was made of the Italian surge in the Europa League but of five teams in the last 16, only one won. A Gonzalo Higuain hat trick gave Napoli a 3-1 advantage against Dynamo Moscow, while Roma drew 1-1 at Fiorentina, but the other two sides face a real struggle to progress.
Torino was well-beaten 2-0 by Zenit in St. Petersburg, while Internazionale, wobbling in the face of a second-half storm inspired by Kevin De Bruyne, was fortunate to come away from Wolfsburg with just a 3-1 defeat. Dieter Hecking's side is second in the Bundesliga, nine points clear of third, and with the De Bruyne and the Dutch striker Bas Dost both in scintillating form, it's won 12 of its 16 games since losing to Everton in the group stage of the Europa League.
Sevilla, three times a Europa League winner in the past decade, all but secured its place in the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win away to Villarreal in the first leg, but the other two ties are both finely poised, with Dnipro defending a 1-0 lead away to Ajax and Club Brugge 2-1 up going to Istanbul to face Besiktas.
