Everton wins farcical friendly 22-0
Everton romped to a farcically emphatic 22-0 victory in its opening pre-season friendly under Marco Silva, as four players hit hat-tricks against ATV Irdning.
The Toffees only managed 16 goals away from home last season in the Premier League but stormed past that number in a single fixture against its improbably over-matched host in Austria.
Kevin Mirallas led the way with five goals, all after half-time. It was already 10-0 by the interval, with Turkey forward Cenk Tosun hitting four.
If Irdning went through the team-talk ritual of "let's pretend it's 0-0, lads" at the break, it is safe to say it did not work.
Oumar Niasse matched Tosun's tally with goals 21 and 22 – number 19 having arrived via a hilarious lob over the Irdning goalkeeper from 25 yards by one of his team-mates.
Ademola Lookman had a treble of his own by that stage, Nikola Vlasic hit a brace and defenders Michael Keane, Leighton Baines and Mason Holgate were also among the scorers.
It is safe to say tougher tasks lie in wait for Silva.
