Everton star Iliman Ndiaye was left visibly distraught and in tears after being forced off with an injury just 25 minutes into the Merseyside derby. Ndiaye, 24, has been one of Everton's standout performers this season, especially in recent weeks under new manager David Moyes. But his bright start against local rivals Liverpool was cut agonisingly short after appearing to pick up a serious knee injury following an innocuous foul by Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Senegalese winger attempted to play on but went down in the 23rd minute and was soon replaced by Jack Harrison. Ndiaye broke down in tears as he trudged off the pitch and put his shirt over his head, with team-mate Abdoulaye Doucoure consoling him. "Sometimes you just know the severity of the injury when it is your own body," former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said on commentary for TNT Sports. "You just hope the injury isn't as bad as it seems right now.".
It was 1-1 at the time of his injury, with Beto having opened the scoring for hosts Everton on 11 minutes. Premier League leaders Liverpool quickly responded through Alexis Mac Allister, who nodded in Mohamed Salah's cross. Ndiaye has scored six Premier League goals this season, three of which have come in his last five games under Moyes. The Scot, who managed Everton between 2002 and 2013, returned to Goodison Park in January following Sean Dyche's sacking.
The Toffees paid £15million to sign Ndiaye from French giants Marseille in July. Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell said of the ex-Sheffield United prospect: "Iliman is a player we have admired for a long time and we are delighted to bring a much sought-after player of his quality to Everton. Where will Everton finish this season? Give us your prediction in the comments section. "We think he will excite Evertonians and give our attack a different dimension.".
Ndiaye hailed new boss Moyes' important following last month's 3-2 win against Tottenham, saying: "The new manager has come in and it's clearer what we want to do. Everyone is on the same page, the fans are behind us and everything just clicked. "We just need to climb up the table now and get more wins. We can't let one game determine the rest of the season. We just got to repeat what we did here.". Everton will now be sweating over Ndiaye's injury ahead of Saturday's trip to Crystal Palace. The Toffees went into the final ever Merseyside derby clash at Goodison Park two places above the relegation zone.
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