Goodison Park bade farewell to the derby with a reminder of the dangers of underestimating Evertonian defiance, an illustration of this game's enduring capacity for late drama. “We won the league at Goodison Park,” chorused the Liverpool supporters, eyeing a nine-point lead at the Premier League summit, imagining Mohamed Salah had scored the final goal in this fixture at the most historic of grounds.
They probably still will win the league. Yet it was Everton who ended up revelling, Everton who conjured a farewell that was happy and angry, euphoric and explosive in equal measure. There were 98 minutes on the clock when the captain James Tarkowski volleyed in an equaliser, prompting fans to charge on to the pitch to mob the scorer. Everton had to endure a lengthy and nervous wait for a VAR check – scarcely a worry when Goodison hosted its first derby in 1894 – before the goal stood.
The final whistle was not the end of the action. Abdoulaye Doucoure’s celebrations in front of the Liverpool fans riled Curtis Jones. A wrestling match brought a melee and a red card apiece for midfielders who had already been booked. It scarcely seemed to dampen Doucoure’s mood. David Moyes, the returning hero of a manager, was punching the air as his side drew level. Arne Slot, who had called for cool heads, should have followed his own advice and ended up getting sent off as well for ranting at referee Michael Oliver. Who, while both sides of Merseyside will disagree, officiated well. He brandished the yellow card eight times, half of them to the warring parties of Jones and Doucoure, in a game that was fast, fierce and ultimately furious.
And so the eventual scoreline at the end is level: 2-2 on the night, 41-41 apiece over 131 years and 120 meetings. Moyes had conceded a huge gulf had opened up between his 2013 departure and recent return. Everton cannot bridge it over a season. On the night, they could, however, with spirit and a fervent crowd, with a moment of inspiration from Tarkowski. There was a banner in the Gwladys Street End saluting Brian Labone, one of Everton’s great captains. Goodison’s last goal in this rivalry came from the man with the Everton armband.
Beforehand, there had been blue smoke outside, the smell of cordite. This could prove Goodison’s last night game and it was a reminder that it remains a unique experience under the lights. A ground that dates back to the 19th century evokes the past. Some of the football was a throwback, too, even if there was a different detail in the first Liverpool starting 11 in the Premier League without an Englishman. When Slot sent on two locals, one, Jones, both helped set up Salah’s goal and then lost his head in the aftermath of the equaliser.
A fixture with a recent tradition of 0-0 draws instead saw the sides trade early goals and then late ones. The newly prolific Beto got a third goal in two league games; a third with an assured finish, too. Having rewatched last season’s defeat, Slot had warned Liverpool not to concede free kicks and Everton have long had an emphasis on set-pieces, but this was a variant on a theme; not the aerial ball beloved of Sean Dyche’s teams but a low free kick by Jarrad Branthwaite, quickly taken, finding Beto running in behind Ibrahima Konate.
Everton had five minutes to enjoy their advantage. Then Alexis Mac Allister glanced in a header from Salah’s cross. Fault could be found with Vitalii Mykolenko, who failed to cut out the pass to Salah, and Tarkowski, left flat-footed in the penalty area; redemption was to follow for him.
If Everton’s hopes of a fourth straight league win seemed dampened by the departure of the distraught Iliman Ndiaye, their main creator, they were nonetheless the more threatening in the second half. Doucoure and the substitute Jack Harrison both came close. Branthwaite had a goal chalked off.
So it was against the run of play that Liverpool led when Salah prodded in a far post shot. The chance owed much to Slot’s substitutions; the manager was still thinking clearly then. Darwin Nunez teeing up Jones, whose shot was headed by Branthwaite, but only to Salah. It took the Egyptian’s tally for the season to 27 goals and he almost added another with a curler that Jordan Pickford saved in spectacular fashion.
The significance of that became clear in injury time. Moyes’ late change was to bring on Ashley Young and he played the ball forward when Tarkowski struck. Liverpool felt Beto had fouled Konate.
And so, with an equaliser and a pitch invasion, with a trio of red cards and the calmest manager in the Premier League fuming, Goodison’s final derby ended. Bramley-Moore Dock has quite a lot to live up to.
