At full-time, in the corner of this fabulous stadium still bathed in sunshine, it was Mo Salah and Andrew Robertson who were pushed to the front of the celebrating Liverpool supporters to take their own piece of the glory. A final Merseyside derby for two players who will leave Anfield this summer and a reminder, as if it were needed, of just how much this game means.
Different stadium, same feels. That pretty much summed it up.
Liverpool had taken a step towards winning this game once when Salah scored after half an hour of Everton first-half pressure. But after another bout of defensive sloppiness allowed Everton to equalise early in the second period, this felt like another afternoon that would end in regret for Arne Slot and his players.
This time, though, Liverpool found an ending more in keeping with their history and traditions. So often this season, Liverpool games have ended badly for them. At Crystal Palace and Chelsea and Leeds and Bournemouth and Fulham.
Late goals have driven puncture after puncture into Liverpool’s attempts to present something approaching a respectable title defence.
Here, though, it was different for once. Everton had been progressive after their equaliser but somehow Liverpool found some forward momentum in the eleven minutes of added time that was signalled and in the tenth of those, Virgil van Dijk won a duel at a corner with James Tarkowski and headed in a winning goal that takes his team to the verge of Champions League qualification.
It was hard on Everton. David Moyes’ team deserved a point. But for Slot it was evidence at last that his team are at least prepared to fight.
The goal they conceded to Everton striker Beto was a bad one and Van Dijk and Robertson were partly culpable in a three-man crime scene that also featured Ibrahima Konate.
They lost their goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in the process, too, which meant that number three Freddie Woodman was asked to play almost 45 minutes despite having played only four times in the Premier League before, for Newcastle four years ago.
So, yes, they could have buckled but here, and we wondered if they would. But on this occasion, they didn’t. Woodman was largely untroubled, saving once at his near post from Iliman Ndiaye. At the other end, Liverpool did create half chances before they struck to win the game.
Earlier, Everton had been exactly as we expected them to be. Full of energy and ambition but also enterprise. There have been many times when Everton have approached these games looking for ways to stifle their rivals, to stop them playing.
Up until the Liverpool goal this was not about that. This was about a team playing with confidence seeking to have one over on a fierce opponent that was not. Everton were the better team for 25 minutes and maybe nobody was surprised.
Everton were prepared to play through the Liverpool lines but also to go over the top. Liverpool did look square at times. The save Mamardashvili produced to keep out Beto’s header that arrived down and across him in the sixth minute was excellent and important.
Six minutes later, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall seemed to have the run on Liverpool emergency right-back Curtis Jones but fell under the challenge with no penalty given. It was the right decision by Chris Kavanagh.
Liverpool were not without a threat on the break. Down the right Salah was hungry and maybe a little unburdened now that his future is known. On the other side Cody Gakpo cut in with menace on occasion while Florian Wirtz continued to exhibit the skills that merely need to be added to a team playing better than this one has been.
The initial threat still belonged to Everton though.
Beto miscued horribly when Dewsbury-Hall played him through down the left in the 16th minute. It was a tough chance but he had to do better.
Then, it seemed, a breakthrough. A sweeping ball to the right to Jake O’Brien and a cross that Liverpool’s Konate could not deal with. Ndiaye thumped the ball in to almost lift the roof off the new place. But no. VAR showed O’Brien to have been offside and by the time Everton had time to settle again after the adrenaline spike, Liverpool scored for real.
It was a fabulous goal as Gakpo dissected the left side of the Everton defence to give Salah time and space to beat Jordan Pickford from 12 yards. But Everton were asleep as they coughed up possession in their own half and ultimately were given exactly what they deserved.
Liverpool had been second best but for the rest of the half they were not.
As the atmosphere understandably calmed inside the stadium, so too did the intensity of Everton’s football and Liverpool could have scored a couple more before half-time had they been a little more fortunate and at times a little more precise.
Pickford saved twice from Gakpo, once spectacularly and once routinely. Then when Alexander Isak – hitherto invisible and not looking match fit – turned to shoot low from 18 yards in the 45th minute, the Everton goalkeeper was fortunate to find the ball coming straight at him.
Everton needed half-time. They needed a reminder from their manager about how well they had played for almost half an hour. More than anything, they needed to score the next goal.
Before long they did. They hadn’t been threatening. Indeed they seemed to have conceded emotional control to Liverpool.
But this Liverpool team will always offer you a chance and when a hopeful ball was played down the left, Dewsbury-Hall exploited lame attempts to cover from Konate and Van Dijk, the subsequent low cross arrived and Beto was merely stronger than Robertson and reached the ball first to score from six yards.
With Mamardashvili stretchered off with an injury to his knee, Woodman was hurried on to make his second Liverpool appearance since signing from Preston last summer. His first had been in a 3-0 home Carabao Cup defeat to Palace.
With the sun in his eyes and his heart in his mouth, heaven knows how he must have felt.
But for all that Everton dominated play once more, he was largely well protected and it was Liverpool who went on to finish the game stronger.
Gakpo had a header cleared off the line, Robertson curled a shot wide and then, in added time, substitute Rio Ngumoah lifted a good chance over after a smart dummy from Alexis MacAllister.
It seemed as though there would be no more drama but we were wrong. Liverpool came out on the right side of it for once and it has been a while.
