“Tonight we lacked a bit of quality going forward,” said Moyes. “We know that before the game started. It wasn’t something that surprised us.

“We try not to discuss the people who are out injured, I’d sooner talk about the ones that are in the team. Some of them did okay tonight, there were one or two good performances.”

Moyes added: “I think Benfica are a good side. It was a tough game. It was tighter than the last one.

“Benfica set a benchmark for us. We beat the team who won it, Zenit St Petersburg, here two years ago. We beat Fiorentina here but ended up losing on penalties. So I can see Benfica in the future possibly being a side that are that standard. It’s a long competition, there are good teams in it and lots of good teams to come into it as well.”

Meanwhile, Tim Howard admits Everton have no time to dwell on the defeat with a trip to West Ham United to come on Sunday.

“Benfica are tough team and they showed that over the course of two games,” said the goalkeeper.

“It will be a big occasion in Athens now. We don’t have the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to pick ourselves up and get on with it.”