Everton have discovered they are surprisingly popular in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, where Roberto Martinez is expected to play a number of his big-hitters in the Europa League on Thursday. Martinez and a travelling squad boasting Romelu Lukaku, Leighton Baines and Tim Howard were pleasantly taken back to find dozens of fans who call themselves Russian Toffees greet them at the local airport after a four-hour flight from Merseyside. 'I saw them all with blue shirts on and thought they had travelled from Liverpool,' said Martinez. 'But they told me “No, we are Russian”. They told me the club has had big support in the country ever since Andrei Kanchelskis played at Goodison.'
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Everton were greeted by dozens of Russian Toffees when they landed in Krasnodar on Wednesday
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The Blues have a Russian fan club since Andrei Kanchelskis played at Goodison Park
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Everton's Aiden McGeady addressed a part of his pre-match media conference in near-fluent Russian
Everton keeper @placeholder was in the squad which made the trip to Russia for the game