10 hours ago
4
Everton 1-2 Liverpool
©IMAGO
Mohamed Salah has only a few Premier League games left to savour before he leaves Liverpool as a free agent in the summer, while Virgil van Dijk at 34 only has a limited number of Merseyside Derby experiences against Everton remaining. But while Liverpool look towards a full-scale summer rebuild, the old guard reminded them of what they can produce in the most emotional settings at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, even in the twilight stage of their illustrious careers.
After being handed a rare start by Arne Slot in a hugely important game for their Champions League qualification hopes, Salah knew he had history on his side. The Egyptian star had scored eight goals and assisted three in his previous 14 games against Everton since joining the Reds in 2017. In his 15th and likely to be final appearance against them in Liverpool colours, the Egyptian wasn't going to sign off without giving his long-time rivals a parting present.
Moments after Iliman Ndiaye's effort was disallowed, Liverpool took full advantage of the 'VAR bounce', a perceived boost that arrives when a decision goes in a team's favour. Cody Gakpo spotted the veteran winger's surging run from the right and after being threaded through, Salah coolly finished beyond Jordan Pickford to score his 257th Liverpool goal.
The tempo lifted in the second half with both sides not content with resting on their laurels, and Everton's brief spell of pressure paid off, with Beto exposing some poor Liverpool defending to prod home from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's cross. Both Gakpo and Beto posed problems for both sides, but the pulsating derby came to a close with the scores level.
And in the 10th minute of 11 allotted minutes of stoppage time, Van Dijk rose high to head home from a Dominik Szoboszlai corner and hand the Reds a dramatic late winner. It puts them seven points clear of sixth-placed Chelsea with five games to go, with some much-needed breathing room towards the end of the domestic campaign.
When Salah departs at the end of the season, he does so with the prestige of being second only to Steven Gerrard in Merseyside derby goal contributions. Of course, Salah has only featured in 15 games compared to Gerrard's 27 appearances, and if he had seen out his two-year contract, he might well have surpassed the Kop icon. But his legacy in this fixture is cemented for now and years to come.
Father time may be catching up to him - he turns 34 in June - but his class remains. His goal was a reminder of what Salah can do when he is feeling his most confident self. Even when Van Dijk had not been enjoying the best game of his career, he still stepped up to plate in the dying moments of the game with 100 minutes played.
While Liverpool will feel somewhat bittersweet about Salah's departure, Everton fans and David Moyes must be sick of the familiar sight of him celebrating a goal on their turf. The Toffees simply cannot wait to see the back of him after playing his part in inflicting yet another defeat on them.
