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Moyes out to restore pride Everton manager David Moyes is determined his side will restore their battered reputation in Europe.

Benfica arrive at Goodison Park after inflicting a damaging 5-0 defeat on the English club in Lisbon, their heaviest loss in continental competition.

However Everton remain among the favourites to progress from Group I in the Europa League and their unbeaten home run at this level stretches to an impressive nine games.

Moyes said: "We do not use the word revenge but pride is at stake. We are hurting from the Benfica game and the result.

"Hopefully we can do something about it. We want to progress in the group, that is the important thing.

"It is great we are talking about expectations in Europe because that has not been the case for a long time.

"We are going to have a go and get a result. A point would not be a bad thing the way the group is going.

"The key is to qualify, that's our aim and we could find ourselves closer to that target on Thursday. But we have to play much better than we did in Lisbon." Moyes will again be down on numbers as John Heitinga and Lucas Neill are both ineligible.

Louis Saha (calf), Tony Hibbert (flu) are doubtful through injury and illness but Steven Pienaar could be on the bench after a knee problem.

Despite their rout of Everton two weeks ago, Benfica are without a victory in seven European matches on the road.

The two teams are level on six points in the group., with the Portuguese side ahead on goal difference.

However, Benfica go into the match on the back of their first league defeat of the season at the weekend when they lost to Braga.

Coach Jorge Jesus, who is set to ring the changes, said: "It is an important game for both teams.

"Perhaps one point each would be good enough. But we have to think of both the Europa League and Portuguese league.

Everton 0-2 Benfica

Last modified 23:36 05/11/09

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It seems that Liverpool are not the only team from Merseyside to have learnt some harsh European lessons this week.

Everton too, have discovered that threadbare squads with insufficient depth are no answer to the demands of the game at this rarified level...especially when the opponents happen to be as classy as Benfica, as their manager David Moyes conceded afterwards.

“It was a tough game for us with the injuries we have, they have real quality. Tonight we lacked that quality, but we knew that before the game started, but we are trying not to talk about the injuries  - we can’t use that as excuses,” he said.

“Benfica have set a benchmark for us, and we know we have to reach that if we are to do well in this competition. But we beat Zenith who won this two years ago, and we beat Fiorentina, so we have quality ourselves.”

The Portuguese side have real pedigree, as illustrated by the fact that they have won their last five matches against the two clubs from this city to become the first foreign team ever to triumph at both Goodison and Anfield.

That small piece of history and confirmation of their superiority over the English club in the Europa League came via two fine finishes from the impressive Benfica striker force of Javier Saviola and the towering Oscar Cardozo, who both scored twice in the first game.

But the gap between the two sides often seemed much wider than even that emphatic scoreline, as the visitors ruthlessly exploited the weakness injuries exposed in their opponents.

At least Everton still have their European destiny in their own hands, though this defeat means that what seemed like a routine stroll to the next phase of the competition now becomes a desperately tricky assignment, given their perennial injury problems.

A win from their final two matches will still probably be enough to edge them through, though four points are required to make that prospect a certainty, and with the list of absentees hovering around the double figure mark since virtually the start of the season, that is certainly no formality.

The English club do possess players equal in technique and talent to Saviola and Cardozo, but the likes of Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar have been consigned to extra time on the physio’s table, while the Benfica strikers showed there is no substitute for class on the pitch. Simply, they were too good for makeshift opposition.

Saviola opened the scoring on 62 minutes: a long ball upfield from the Portuguese side, a flick from the gifted Angel Di Maria, and hesitancy from the home defence all contriving to gift him a shooting chance from just inside the box, which he accepted with relish, and quality.

Soon after, Di Maria and Saviola combined to allow Cardozo to complete the holy trinity, and his finish was remarkable in the technique shown by a big striker, as he volleyed fiercely to emphasise the visitors’ dominance.

With Everton’s injury crisis apparently never-ending, Moyes was again forced to take the Blue Peter approach to fielding a side deprived of 10 candidates last night, in that he virtually had to send them out patched together with cut down cornflake boxes and sticky back plastic.

Which made the task of avenging that humiliating 5-0 defeat in Lisbon a fortnight ago all the more difficult, especially given the quality that Benfica illustrated all too clearly on a night enlivened not just by the fireworks that orchestrated proceedings.

Fellaini may well have got the game off with a bang for the home side, had he put just a little more gunpowder into a chance within the fourth minute, when he cleverly intercepted and darted into the penalty area, only to see his left foot shot smothered by Julio Cesar.

But it was the visitors who looked more dangerous. They should have led before half time, when the impressive Oscar Cardozo rose above his markers to power a Di Maria cross goalwards only to see it bounce off the post. Even then, Everton only escaped thanks to brilliant work from Tim Howard in somehow denying Javier Saviola’s follow-up.

Soon after the break, it was Cardozo who repaid the favour to Di Maria, and really, the Benfica midfielder should have scored as he raced clear to glimpse the whites of Howard’s eyes, before smashing his shot over the bar.

Not that Everton were entirely content to play supporting cast to the visiting stars. They offered a more muscular, direct menace, with Yakubu and Jack Rodwell creating chances, but if they are to progress through this competition, they will need their injured legions back swiftly, as keeper Howard accepted afterwards. “We don’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves, we have to get on with it.”