Howard leads Everton over Wolfsburg 4-1 in Europa

The Associated Press

American goalkeeper Tim Howard turned in an outstanding performance in his first European match since the 2009-10 season, and Everton opened the group stage of the Europa League with a 4-1 win over visiting Wolfsburg on Thursday night.

Wolfsburg put 12 of 24 shots on target but managed its only goal when Ricardo Rodriguez scored in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Everton went ahead on Rodriguez’s own goal in the 15th minute, then opened a 4-0 lead when Seamus Coleman scored in first-half stoppage time, Leighton Baines converted a penalty kick in the 47th and Kevin Mirallas scored in the 89th.

American defender Fabian Johnson started and played until the 62nd minute for Borussia Moenchengladbach in a 1-1 home tie against Villarreal.

Three-time European champion Inter Milan opened with a 1-0 win at Ukraine’s Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on a goal by Danilo D’Ambrosio, and defending champion Sevilla defeated Feyenoord 2-0 on first-half goals by Grzegorz Krychowiak and Stephane Mbia.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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