Frustrated Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk took aim at Everton and referee Michael Oliver after a truly chaotic finish to Wednesday night’s pulsating Merseyside derby clash, while he accused Abdoulaye Doucoure of trying to provoke the travelling fans.
Mohamed Salah’s effort 17 minutes from time in the final-ever showdown to be held between the local rivals at Goodison Park, that came after Alexis Mac Allister’s header had earlier quickly cancelled out a strike from Beto, looked to have the Premier League leaders on course for a valuable hard-fought victory in their game in hand that would see them move nine points clear of nearest title rivals Arsenal with 14 matches left to play this season.
Jones and Doucoure were both shown second yellow and then red cards by referee Oliver, who also sent off both Liverpool manager Arne Slot and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff for their post-match protests as a total of four dismissals were racked up straight after the game.
The last-gasp leveller - which led to some jubilant home fans spilling onto the pitch - stood after a long VAR check that was mostly focused on a possible offside call, though Liverpool appeared to want it ruled out for a challenge by Everton striker Beto on defender Ibrahima Konate.
Tempers boiled over in wild and chaotic scenes after the full-time whistle at Goodison, with Liverpool’s Curtis Jones sprinting to confront Doucoure after the latter appeared to celebrate Everton’s equaliser in front of the away fans.
