Everton reached the Emirates FA Cup quarter-finals after beating Tottenham Hotspur a nine-goal thriller at Goodison Park.
Brazilian forward Bernard netted the winner in extra time as the Toffees seek to win their first trophy for 26 years.
Spurs opened the scoring as unmarked Davinson Sanchez headed in from a corner in the third minute.
It took until the half hour mark for Everton to spring into life, as they scored three goals in eight minutes.
First Dominic Calvert-Lewin smashed home the equaliser in the 35th minute. Hugo Lloris will be disappointed that he did not keep the England striker’s effort out.
Richarlison put The Toffees ahead with a low drive into the bottom corner two minutes later.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then tripped Calvert-Lewin in the box. Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson coolly sent Lloris the wrong way to give the Toffees a two-goal lead.
Eric Lamela responded quickly, halving the deficit in the third minute of first half additional time.
As England captain Harry Kane came on for Spurs in the second half, Everton’s England striker Calvert-Lewin worryingly limped off with a hamstring injury.
Richarlison put Everton back into the lead at the Gwladys Street End with a cute left footed finish.
Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane equalised for Spurs with seven minutes to go.
Once again, it was Heung-Min Son who provided the assist for the Spurs striker to head home and send the game to extra time.
Bernard fired the eventual Everton winner in the first half of extra time, as Everton held on to progress to the quarter finals.
Everton’s Depleted Squad
Everton’s squad is wearing thin. The FA Cup allows teams to name nine substitutes and five to be made in the match.
Everton were only able to name seven subs, with only five of those being outfield players.
To make matters worse, star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was substituted off early in the second half.
Everton assistant coach Duncan Ferguson told BT Sport: “It looks like he tweaked his hamstring. We’re not quite sure. It could be a wee bit of trouble for him.”
Everton Up for the Cup?
Despite sloppy defending, Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti will be pleased that his team showed the resolve to beat Spurs.
Although Everton was empty, it was Ancelotti’s finest moment as Blues boss so far.
Ancelotti has been clear that he wants to bring a trophy to Goodison to kick start his Everton project.
Assistant coach Duncan Ferguson told BBC Sport: “We want to do well in the Premier League, but the FA Cup is the one we want.”
The loss of Calvert-Lewin could have undermined Everton’s performance. But Brazilian forward Richarlison looked back to his best form after a season where he has not been Everton’s stand out man.
Everton’s midfield has been an area of weakness since the Italian took the post in December 2019.
Without the Brazilian Allan – who is out with a long-term injury, as well as Andre Gomes who was not named on the bench.
Abdoulaye Doucoure was non-stop in his running and Tom Davies was constantly positive on the ball.
The latter’s performances are improving every week under Ancelotti’s guidance.
Everton will learn their quarter final opponents when the draw is made on Thursday evening (11th February).
