Ramiro Funes Mori ready to 'fight' with Phil Jagielka for Everton place
Thursday 7 January 2016 16:36, UK
Everton centre-back Ramiro Funes Mori has warned captain Phil Jagielka he has no intention of giving up his place in the team without a fight.
The Argentine has deputised in the Toffees' back four since Jagielka was sidelined by a knee injury at the end of October.
Jagielka has been an unused substitute in the last two matches but Funes Mori, who scored his first goal at Goodison Park in the 2-1 Capital One Cup semi-final first leg victory against Manchester City on Wednesday, intends to make it as difficult as possible for the returning 33-year-old.
"He was injured and in my moment I had to come in and play and take advantage of my time on the pitch," he said.
"He is the captain but I have done my job so he has to come back again and play for a spot. We will both have to fight for a place."
Funes Mori, a £9.5m arrival from River Plate in the summer, has enjoyed playing alongside John Stones in the heart of the Everton defence for an extended period.
"He is a top player and has a lot of quality and I think I am playing with a great central defender," added the 24-year-old.
"We have become more confident as we have got to know each other and that has produced positive results.
"I speak a lot with John during the game and we talk to each other a lot so we can cover each other's backs."
The centre-back's goal against City, his second of the season, on the stroke of half-time was followed by Jesus Navas' equaliser and Romelu Lukaku's 19th strike of the campaign in the second half as Everton secured a narrow advantage to take to the Etihad Stadium in three weeks.
It raised the prospect of an all-Merseyside Wembley final after Liverpool's 1-0 win at Stoke the previous night but Funes Mori knows the tie is far from over.
"We are taking it game by game," he said. "We had a perfect performance against Manchester City and we have to think about the second leg and not to get ahead of ourselves about what is coming.
"City have a very strong squad, they have top players, but we also can play and have strength. We will have to be good defensively.
"The whole team has built a lot of confidence in defending and being strong at the moment.
"It is very important for everyone to make sacrifices for each other because we know we have a skilful team with a lot of qualities so we know we can score goals."
