Europa League: Romelu Lukaku Nets Hat-Trick in Everton Win, Mario Balotelli Stars for Liverpool
Romelu Lukaku scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Everton victory against Swiss side Young Boys, a late Mario Balotelli penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 win against Turkish league leaders Besiktas at Anfield, while Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Fiorentina at White Hart Lane.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: February 20, 2015 07:22 AM IST
![Europa League: Romelu Lukaku Nets Hat-Trick in Everton Win, Mario Balotelli Stars for Liverpool](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2015/feb/806/romelu-lukaku-everton.jpg)
Celtic's rematch with Inter Milan ended in a memorable 3-3 draw in Glasgow in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 on Thursday as Romelu Lukaku inspired Everton to a big win.
Lukaku scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 Everton victory against Swiss side Young Boys that leaves the Toffees with one foot in the last 16, but the Premier League's other representatives in the competition still have work to do.
A late Mario Balotelli penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 win against Turkish league leaders Besiktas at Anfield, while Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Fiorentina at White Hart Lane, meaning they must now score in the return in Florence next week.
Celtic will also be up against it in Italy but they have given themselves a chance after coming from 2-0 and then 3-2 down to hold Inter in a repeat of the 1967 European Cup final.
Members of the Celtic team, known as the Lisbon Lions, that won that game 2-1 to become the first British club to be crowned champions of Europe, were in attendance to watch a remarkable match played in wild winter conditions in Glasgow's East End.
John Guidetti was the hero for Celtic on the night, coming off the bench to volley home a stoppage time equaliser against Roberto Mancini's side.
Before that, Celtic's evening had started in nightmare fashion, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Rodrigo Palacio putting Inter 2-0 up inside 13 minutes.
Stuart Armstrong, making his home debut for Celtic following his January move from Dundee United, got one back and then forced the 26th-minute own-goal by Hugo Campagnaro that restored parity.
However, Inter went back in front just before the break when Palacio pounced on an error by Celtic 'keeper Craig Gordon to roll the ball home.
"We don't get punished the way we did tonight in the domestic league, but we were also a little unlucky," Celtic manager Ronny Deila told BT Sport.
"We have to do better defensively. They maybe scored from every chance they had."
However, the Norwegian added: "I'm so proud of the boys. In the second half we controlled the game and had three or four chances and scored at the end. The atmosphere was fantastic. Without fans like that it wouldn't be possible."
Meanwhile, the Europa League again brought out the best in Everton as Lukaku became only the fourth player representing the blue half of Merseyside to score a hat-trick in Europe, following in the footsteps of Alan Ball, Andy Gray and Yakubu Aiyegbeni.
Seamus Coleman also scored, with Roberto Martinez's side coming from behind after Guillaume Hoarau gave Young Boys an early lead at the Stade de Suisse.
The Toffees have won only one of their last nine Premier League games but they won their Europa League group in style in the autumn and they were impressive again on this occasion.
However, the one blotch on their evening's work was the sending-off of defender John Stones for bringing down Hoarau in the box, although Hoarau blazed the resulting spot-kick over the bar.
Of Lukaku, who missed several chances to add to his tally late on, Martinez said: "He's the complete striker, but he's only 21 and people forget about that.
"We saw today he really makes a difference in front of goal and he's someone who is going to have a really strong ending to the season."
- Balotelli winner -
Liverpool won 8-0 the last time they entertained Besiktas in the Champions League in 2007, but on this occasion they needed Balotelli to score an 85th-minute penalty to win the game at Anfield and give them an advantage to take to Istanbul.
And Balotelli only scored after an apparent disagreement with Jordan Henderson, the captain on the night, and Daniel Sturridge over who would take the penalty.
Tottenham took the lead against Fiorentina as Roberto Soldado, starting instead of the in-form Harry Kane, volleyed in after just six minutes, but Jose Maria Basanta equalised before the interval.
Elsewhere, trophy holders Sevilla won 1-0 at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach in the first leg of their tie in Spain thanks to a Vicente Iborra goal.
In-form Bas Dost scored both goals as German Bundesliga high-fliers Wolfsburg beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0, and there were also wins for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Napoli, Zenit St Petersburg, Club Brugge, Guingamp, Villarreal and Ajax.