Everton held Lille to a scoreless draw Thursday evening in the Uefa Europa League as it looked like the English side were going to go down to the hardworking, industrious French club. But, Martinez will be happy still being a top of the group after a lackluster performance.
Origi turned on the jets down the left and floated the cross but Lille unable to convert, 10th minute. Give and go from Barry and Samuel Eto’o looked promising, but the Cameroonian striker just couldn’t control the ball at his feet and Lille won the ball back in the 18th minute of play. Excellent ball movement from Lille led to their best chance of the night from Idrissa Gueye as he lashed at a shot from the top of the box that just skips wide left of Tim Howard’s goal on the 25th minute mark. 7 minutes later, McGeady fired a shot from the top left of the box, but it was hit straight at Vincent Enyema, the Lille goalkeeper.
The second half has started out quite differently than the first half as it was not as frantic as the first 45 minutes were, with both sides trying to build-up play, at least slightly. But Lille has still shown some pace which has caused Everton problems. Origi had the French side’s best chance after the interval, but his effort was always going high and wide of the goal, in the 52nd minute of the match.
Lukaku made an instant impact as he delivered a great ball into McGeady but it the Irishman’s shot was saved well by Enyema who came screaming off of his line. Eto’o nearly won it for Everton with a few minutes left to go in the match but the Nigerian goalkeeper did well to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
These two clubs will face off against each other once again in two weeks’ time as they will play at Goodison Park in match day four of the 2014/15 Uefa Europa League.