Meet Austrian minnows ATV Irdning who lost 22-0 to Everton whose goalkeeper’s favourite food is KEBABS
Beer and coca-cola are among the favourite drinks of the team the Toffees faced in their opening pre-season game
WITH a diet more suited to a middle-aged man letting his hair down for a boozy stag-do in Brighton, it is little wonder ATV Irdning were beaten 22-0 by Everton on Saturday.
Kebabs, beer and roast pork are among the culinary favourites of the Austrian side who were supposed to provide the first test for new Toffees boss Marco Silva.
Instead, a farcical encounter took place in which 22 — yes, twenty-two — goals were conceded by Irdning goalkeeper David Gabriel.
Given Gabriel's favourite food, according to the club website, is a juicy kebab, his preparation for the friendly may have been slightly different to the thorough Silva.
During his spell as Hull City boss, Silva banned his players from eating apple crumble.
Irdning head coach Andreas Schmid seemingly has no ban on the buttery-biscuit dessert, or any other guilty pleasure for that matter.
Should Gabriel be unavailable, Schmid would turn to back-up Wolfgang Zelzer.
And he's most likely to find him in either the club's bar or local Toby Carvery, for the 18-year-old is partial to some roast pork and washes it down with a beer.
Zelzer's goal, he says, is to break into the first-team.
His team-mate Anel Kocijan, nicknamed The Bomber, also lists a kebab as his favourite dish.
Irdning were, unsurprisingly, far inferior to Everton.
Four players recorded hat-tricks or better — Cenk Tosun, Ademola Lookman, Kevin Mirallas, Oumar Niasse — Nikola Vlasic grabbed two, while Leighton Baines, Michael Keane and Mason Holgate all got on the score-sheet.
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And then there's the own goal.
Sebastian Schmid, partial to a pancake or two, lobbed his own goalkeeper to take the score up to 19-0.
If that wasn't absurd enough, Irdning's goalkeeper turned his back on Vlasic as he closed down on goal, leaving the 20-year-old to slide into an open net.
Whether it was the picturesque views of the Alps that distracted the goalkeeper or the prospect of a post-game Doner remain unknown.
But the fortunes of a team ranked 11th of 14 in the Oberliga Nord seem unlikely to improve.
Everton, meanwhile, returned to the U.K. for their next pre-season game which takes place on Wednesday.
Silva's team travels to Gigg Lane to face Bury, and he'll be hoping there are no kebabs in sight.
