Martinez urges fans to travel despite Kiev fracas

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has urged fans looking to travel to their Europa League last-16 away leg not to worry after the Toffees were paired with Dynamo Kiev in Friday’s draw.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has urged fans looking to travel to their Europa League last-16 away leg not to worry after the Toffees were paired with Dynamo Kiev in Friday’s draw.

Trouble flared at Dynamo’s round of 32 second-leg victory over Guingamp in Kiev on Thursday, the game having to be suspended for around 10 minutes by referee Martin Strombergsson towards the end.

UEFA announced on Friday it was opening disciplinary proceedings, with Dynamo’s list of charges including crowd disturbances, field invasion by supporters and the setting off/throwing of fireworks and objects.

Everton are scheduled to host the Ukrainian outfit in the first leg on March 12 before making the away trip on March 19, while the disciplinary case is set to be dealt with by UEFA next Wednesday.

And Martinez said on Friday: “At the moment there is a UEFA investigation going on and we don’t know any more details from that point of view.

“We are going to take every step as it comes and wait for instructions.

“But I don’t think there is anything to worry about at this stage for any of our fans – at the moment it is just about concentrating on the first leg and seeing how the investigation goes with UEFA.”

Martinez – whose side sealed their last-16 place with a 3-1 home victory over Swiss side Young Boys on Thursday, triumphing 7-2 on aggregate, and are the only British team left in the Europa League – also said he was “very excited” by the prospect of the Dynamo tie, which he expects to be tough.

“It is a draw that we are very excited about,” the Spaniard said.

“Dynamo Kiev are a top team – they are unbeaten in and top of their domestic league, ahead of teams we know about well in terms of being strong in Europe, like Shakhtar Donetsk and Dnipro.

“They have some well-known players and play in a phenomenal facility. Their ground is special.

“In that respect, it is what we expected – a tough team.

“You always prefer to play at home in the second leg, and unfortunately that is not going to be the case, but there is nothing we can do in that respect.”

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