Christian Atsu’s Europa League campaign came to an end on Thursday evening as Everton were eliminated by Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev.

Roberto Martinez’s Toffees took a 2-1 advantage to Eastern Europe following a first-leg triumph at Goodison Park, but delivered an appalling defensive display away from home and were beaten 5-2 on the night to lose 6-4 on aggregate.

Martinez opted to start with Atsu against the 13-time domestic champions and the Black Star delivered an encouraging performance on the right wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation for 65 minutes of a contest that rapidly escalated away from Everton.

Andriy Yarmolenko put Kiev ahead after 21 minutes following some poor Toffees defending before Romelu Lukaku restored Everton’s advantage eight minutes later after Ross Barkley had hit the woodwork.

The Blues appeared to lack all cohesion at the back, with Antolin Alcaraz looking particularly hapless, and the Paraguayan was at fault six minutes later as Lukasz Teodorczyk took advantage of apprehension in the box to draw the tie level.

Miguel Veloso scored another seven minutes before the break to give Dinamo the advantage, before Oleg Gusev fired them even further ahead shortly into the second half. Barkley again hit the frame of the goal just after the hour mark, but it was the home side who struck next—Vitorino Antunes making it 5-1 on the night with a world-class effort.

An 82nd-minute Phil Jagielka header brought feint hope of an Everton comeback, but the defender’s goal was the Blues’ last truly meaningful chance of the contest.

While Atsu will naturally be disappointed with the defeat—and may deserve criticism for not defending his full-back Sheamus Coleman more effectively—he gave a good account of himself going forward. He completed a game-high five successful dribbles and worked well with Everton’s key threat, Barkley.

Crossing has rarely been Atsu’s strength, and despite the presence of the towering Lukaku, he didn’t succeed with any of his three attempted crosses according to WhoScored.

With the School of Science now eliminated from all three cup competitions, Atsu will have to fight with new recruit Aaron Lennon for precious minutes in the Premier League before his loan deal expires this summer.