Football
ESPN staff 8y

Romelu Lukaku: Everton must stay grounded after Capital One Cup win

Romelu Lukaku was delighted that Everton reached the League Cup semifinals with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, but says the Toffees must stay grounded.

Gerard Deulofeu opened the scoring with a stunning solo effort and then provided the ammunition for Lukaku to head the visitors into a 2-0 lead with just 28 minutes gone -- and that is the way it finished -- in front of a largely shell-shocked crowd of 31,628.

"It was a good result," said Lukaku. "We were again 2-0 up but then kept the clean sheet. We should have scored more, but it was a good result. We are all young, hungry players.

"We have a lot of quality, but we need to stay grounded. People expect more of us and we want to give them it."

Deulofeu was the game's star and revealed he is loving life at Goodison Park.

"I am enjoying my football a lot," he said. "Playing with these players makes things easier and I am delighted to be in the next round.

"We are in a good moment. The last game was disappointing because we need to win those games. But we have to keep going."

Meanwhile, Everton manager Roberto Martinez told Sky Sports: "It was all about getting to the semifinals. The fans came in big numbers and it is terrific for our football club."

Everton let a two-goal lead slip at Bournemouth in a 3-3 draw at the weekend, but Martinez was pleased with the response.

"We knew we had to be very mature and control the game," the Spaniard added. "I thought we did that really well, especially after the weekend.

"We showed we learnt a lot from the weekend. Middlesbrough are a very, very good team and they defended really well. Our two goals were exceptional pieces of quality.

"That is never something to take for granted. Most pleasing, though, was to keep the clean sheet after going 2-0 up."

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