KLOPP’S GLORY IS STOLEN

Henderson’s final act of derby drama falls victim to officials

AT THE end of it all, there was the din of industrial lawnmowers working overtime at an otherwise silent Goodison Park. Where 20 minutes before, an extraordinary game of football had taken place, now there was a banal vacuum, the adrenaline already subsiding.

After a Merseyside derby without its most important ingredient, the fans, and in a city in lockdown, there were none of the usual shouts and screams of the post-match fallout. No pubs were filling up and there were no heated debates there among old friends and enemies.

Nothing about the situation was normal. It was almost as if a scintillating derby, perhaps the most anticipated since the 1980s, had never taken place. Then into the void stepped Jurgen Klopp, on a faint and crackly Zoom call. And even on an imperfect phone connection, the intensity was evident.

‘It’s getting harder and harder to take it to be honest,’ he sighed and we were back in the moment.

For drama, controversy and ferocity had abounded at Goodison. Throw in an infuriating last-minute twist which denied Liverpool a famous victory, it was almost like normal life again. This was one of the best games in the Premier League since behind-closed-doors became the norm. Not just for the drama, but the abundant quality on display as well.

At its best, football is pure escapism from real life. Here was a game to enable you to block out, for 90 minutes at least, the weight of awful statistics that dominate the news. Here was a Merseyside derby to enrapture and enthral, with a Liverpool team back to their best after the humiliation of Villa Park up against a table- topping Ever ton. There was, almost inevitably, a Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed goal, his 10th of the season. Almost as predictably, there were calamitous and dangerous moments from Jordan Pickford but two jaw- dropping saves as well. And then there was VAR.

For VAR always seems to intrude and despoil. Without VAR, Liverpool would have secured a late victory.

As it was, Pickford was reprieved from another dreadful mistake and Everton’s honour was satisfied.

And for all the excellence that had preceded it, it was hard to get away from those final few minutes of controversy. First there was Richarlison, diving feet up into Thiago Alcantara, on 90 minutes and receiving a red card just as the fourth official marked five minutes of injury time.

Then there was the pass from Thiago after 92 minutes, a thing of beauty to release Sadio Mane. The cross for Jordan Henderson was precise and the shot decent enough, though the fumble from Pickford was awful. And as Liverpool cavorted, the goalkeeper raged at the injustice of the world.

Yet then came the interminable wait. No image available could establish an offside, except one available to the VAR, who apparently could detect a part of the shoulder offside. No matter no technology exists precise enough to establish that for certain. FIFA have determined that rules are rules.

And Klopp was as grumpy as he gets on that Zoom call. ‘The picture I saw now once on the laptop, there’ s no armpit, there’ s nothing. Just not offside. Since then I had 10 interviews and everyone tells me it was not offside and that doesn’t lift my mood obviously.’

What he could relish, however, was the response his team showed to the 7-2 mauling at Aston Villa. For 15 minutes, Liverpool were so good it seemed Everton would barely register their presence. The pressing was back to being the well-engineered machine.

Henderson, Ma ne, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho fairly flew out of the blocks. Within three minutes Andy Robertson beat Seamus Coleman, crossed for Mane, who struck first time past Pickford; it was cold and clinical and seemed to mock Evertonians’ excitement. Coleman beat the ground with his fist, knowing his mistake had caused it. He would depart halfway through the half with a hamstring injury.

Liverpool rammed home their dominance. A corner after five minutes was cleared but Fabinho chipped the ball over the advancing Everton back four. Pickford was exposed. Virgil van Dijk, up for the corner, was in on goal. Out rushed Pickford and clattered into Van Dijk, who had nudged the ball past him. It was high, dangerous and reckless. It would have been a penalty had not VAR come to t he rescue, determining Van Dijk was offside.

Yet somehow David Coote, the VAR, did not bother to check for a possible red, which could have been awarded regardless. You will not see a clearer sending-off this season.

‘We have no power,’ said Klopp. ‘We just sit here and you discuss it with me. What can I say? I don’t want to say Jordan Pickford wanted to do it, but that’s of course not a challenge a goalie can do.’

Carlo Ancelotti expressed his sympathy for Van Dijk but would not be drawn on Pickford. ‘ He played a good game,’ he said. ‘I’m not worried.’ That, however, cannot possibly be the whole truth.

Van Dijk would have to leave to be replaced by Joe Gomez, who played well but the absence of the Dutchman showed on 20 minutes as Everton slowly established a grip on the game, getting Calvert-Lewin away, from long balls delivered by the metronomic boot of James Rodriguez. From one such foray came a corner, which James lifted directly on to the head of Michael Keane. The jump was well timed and the header thunderous but Fabinho’s failure to challenge and Adrian’s flap were contributors to the equalising goal.

Now a more equal contest ensued. Pickford redeemed himself with a flying save from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick after 24 minutes while Mane, played in by Robertson in the 35th minute in a near carbon copy of his goal, should have done better than shoot wide.

On the hour, Richarlison’s diving header from James’s sumptuous cross came off the post. Liverpool would have their own lucky escape from a red card when Mane was booked for launching himself at Lucas Digne.

Both sides traded blows until 73 minutes, when Henderson sent in a speculative cross. Yerry Mina should have dealt with it, but kicked it out softly at a nice height for the preying Salah to volley home.

After 73 minutes, Joel Matip met an Alexander-Arnold corner with a firm header destined for goal until Pickford leapt to his right and clawed the ball away.

In the 80 th minute, Dig ne provided the inviting cross and Calvert-Lewin, seemingly hanging mid-air, towered above Robertson. ‘When Digne had the cross, I heard already from the Everton bench, “That’s it”,’ said Klopp. Indeed, it was a textbook goal. ‘ Fantastic goal,’ purred Ancelotti. And on that we could at least all agree.