Bittersweet return for Toffees’ Gerard

Gerard Deulofeu admitted he was left with mixed emotions after rare time on the pitch ended in FA Cup defeat at the hands of Leicester City.

The former Barcelona forward had not featured since playing the full 90 minutes against Watford on December 10, but came on at half-time before Ahmed Musa’s double dumped the Toffees out at the third-round stage.

Deulofeu did, however, provide the assist for Romelu Lukaku’s opener, a small incline of solace for Ronald Koeman’s side at Goodison Park.

But the 22-year-old admits statistics like that only matter when the team takes away the spoils, disappointed to surrender a leader against the Premier League champions.

(Photo by Lynne Cameron/Getty Images)

“I had a chance to play minutes and this is what I want,” said the attacker. “When I got on the pitch, I took my chance but it’s disappointing because we didn’t win. I don’t go home happy.

“I’m happy [for the assist] because I need to contribute more goals and assists, but the most important thing is winning the game.”

“We scored against Leicester who made it difficult, but after that we lost balls and dropped back a little bit.

“This isn’t the way and we needed to attack. We need to improve, train better and now Man City is a big game.”