But after an own goal from Rodriguez, a header from Seamus Coleman and a penalty from Leighton Baines right at the start of the second half made it 3-0, Wolfsburg laid siege to Howard’s goal.

The American pulled off a string of saves before the Toffees rubbed salt in Wolfsburg’s wounds by grabbing a fourth on the break through Kevin Mirallas.

Martinez said of Howard: “I thought he was magnificent.

“His concentration, the way he controlled his 18-yard box. You would expect once we scored the second and third goals that Wolfsburg would throw everything at us.

“It’s just a real shame that the last kick of the game ends up in the back of the net. In my eyes Tim’s performance is like a clean sheet and that’s the way I’m going to keep it.”

It was Everton’s first European game in five seasons and gave them the perfect start to their Group H campaign.

Martinez said: “We were looking forward to the environment and a European night at Goodison under the lights.

“There’s been a lot of talk from the fans and it was phenomenal to get that feeling. The atmosphere was perfect for us to start a very good performance.

“I thought there were two very good sides. On the night the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect the difference between the two sides.

“We scored at the right times. Our work-rate was magnificent. We had to defend and we did that really well but every time we went forward we had a clinical touch about us.”

Wolfsburg only missed out on qualifying for the Champions League by a point and boss Dieter Hecking accused his team of being naive.

He said: “It’s obviously not the start we’d hoped for. We were lacking in certain areas, both in terms of finishing and defensive work.

“We should have gone into half-time a goal down and we got hit with a second just before the break. Straight after the restart, 3-0 down and the game is lost.

“We really weren’t smart enough and showed a certain naivety.”