By Oliver Brett
**Everton’s heaviest defeat in Europe saw them lose their unbeaten record in the Europa League to an excellent Benfica.**Angel di Maria played a blinder on the left wing, setting up the first three goals - the opener for Javier Saviola, and the next two for Oscar Cardozo.
Luisao’s header from a Pablo Aimar corner made it 4-0, and Di Maria set up Saviola for the final goal.
Everton, with 11 players unavailable, struggled and Benfica goalkeeper Julio Cesar did not have a save to make.
Regularly outmanoeuvred in midfield and frequently embarrassed in defence, the closest Everton came to a goal was when substitute Louis Saha hit the outside of the post having been released by Jo.
Toffees manager David Moyes had not had an easy build-up for his team’s trip to Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz and his injury worries increased when Leighton Baines joined the list of absentees.
It meant an entire team was unavailable - nine out injured and two Cup-tied in Johnny Heitinga and Lucas Neill - so Moyes had a threadbare, inexperienced squad at his disposal.
The early danger signs were obvious, with the Portuguese side’s attractive passing opening up a number of opportunities.
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Benfica’s two wide men, Di Maria and the Brazilian youngster Ramires, carved out an early opportunity for Saviola, but he had strayed narrowly off-side.
From a corner soon afterwards, Luisao climed above his marker Yakubu with a well-timed leap, only to put his header over the bar.
Then came Benfica’s opener: Di Maria, who frequently caused Tony Hibbert and Dan Gosling a host of problems with his pace and trickery down the left flank, delivered an inch-perfect cross for his fellow Argentinian Saviola.
Easily losing his marker, the debutant Seamus Coleman, Saviola drove his right-footed volley across goal, and a diving Tim Howard was unable to reach the shot.
The next significant Benfica attack was also initiated by Di Maria, and only a brilliant clearance from Sylvain Distin prevented Cardozo from doubling the home team’s lead.
Things looked fairly desperate for the 7,000 travelling Everton fans, seeing their team playing competitively in Portugal for the first time.
But when Yakubu hit a square ball to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, the Russian’s left-footed volley from distance was hit with tremendous timing, and only just disappeared over the top of Cesar’s crossbar.
However, Benfica continued to dominate play in the lead-up to half-time, and when the players rejoined battle after the interval, three goals came in six crazy minutes.
When Aimar played a short ball to Di Maria, Marouane Fellaini was dawdling in defence and another smart cross proved easy pickings for Cardozo.
Next, with defenders once again left trailing in his wake, Di Maria again found Cardozo at the far post, and this time the Paraguayan star scored with his head.
Everton’s defence was now desperately short of confidence, and from a corner taken by Aimar soon afterwards Luisao was left unmarked to make it 4-0.
That was enough for some Everton fans, who declined to watch the final 38 minutes of the match.
Saha came on for Bilyaletdinov but had limited opportunities and Benfica remained in charge - Cardozo coming close to a hat-trick, denied only by an excellent save from Howard.
Instead, the final goal was scored by Saviola after David Luiz’s long ball had found Di Maria racing past Hibbert for the umpteenth time of the night. Once again, his cross from the left was flawless.
Despite the weakness of their opponents, it was a stirring performance from Benfica, which augurs well for their pursuit of trophies this season.
As far as Group I of the Europa League goes, they join Everton at the top with six points. BATE Borisov beat AEK Athens, leaving both those teams on three points.