Van Dijk late show lifts Liverpool in Merseyside derby
Virgil van Dijk scored the winning goal 10 minutes into second-half stoppage time as Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
It looked as though the game – which was disrupted by a major injury for each side as Giorgi Mamardashvili and Jarrad Branthwaite were carried off – would peter out to a draw.
But Van Dijk stunned the home fans into silence with his last-gasp header from Dominik Szoboszlai's corner, which lifted Liverpool seven points clear of those outside the top five.
Everton's players were welcomed to Hill Dickinson Stadium by swathes of supporters lining the streets, and they almost dialled up the atmosphere in the sixth minute as Beto's header was clawed away by Mamardashvili.
Iliman Ndiaye then had a goal disallowed due to Jake O'Brien being offside in the build-up, and only 66 seconds after the restart, the stadium's first derby goal was scored at the other end.
Cody Gakpo intercepted a loose pass from Dwight McNeil before sliding in Mohamed Salah, who stroked first-time past Jordan Pickford.
Everton drew level nine minutes into the second half, though, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall outfoxing Ibrahima Konate before putting it on a plate for Beto.
Mamardashvili had to be carried off after that goal, to be replaced by third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, while Everton saw Beto sustain a head injury and Branthwaite go off in tears with an apparent hamstring issue.
Those injuries disrupted the flow of the game and led to 11 added minutes, and with time almost up, Van Dijk powered Szoboszlai's corner home to put an eight-point buffer between the teams.
