![\"Liverpool's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/00243eba-614.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nVirgil van Dijk scored an stoppage-time header to win the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium and boost Liverpool’s hopes of securing Champions League football next season.<\/p>\n
The centre-back shrugged off the grappling of James Tarkowski to power home Dominik Szoboszlai\u2019s inswinging corner into the six-yard box in the 10th minute of added time to silence the home crowd.<\/p>\n
Victory put the Reds seven points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea with five matches remaining, one of which is at home to the Stamford Bridge side.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Salah\u2019s final Merseyside derby had looked like ending in frustration until that late intervention.<\/p>\n
The Egypt international has few milestones left to reach before the end of his storied Anfield career, but equalling Steven Gerrard\u2019s Premier League derby record of nine goals in these cross-city encounters was one of them, which he achieved with his 29th-minute opener.<\/p>\n
Everton\u2019s determination not to lose the first derby at their new home saw Beto\u2019s fourth goal in three games bring a second-half equaliser, but Liverpool\u2019s early-season habit of scoring late winners \u2013 which had deserted them for so long \u2013 returned with impeccable timing.<\/p>\n
The scenes in front of the visiting fans at the final whistle \u2013 and the individual celebrations of Salah, Andy Robertson, who is also leaving, and Van Dijk in particular \u2013 showed just how important a result it was in terms of the season and not just local bragging rights.<\/p>\n
After their Champions League exit to Paris St Germain in midweek with a fourth defeat in five games \u2013 their worst run heading into a derby in 15 years \u2013 Liverpool needed to capitalise on Chelsea\u2019s defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.<\/p>\n
And while their form \u2013 both collectively and individually \u2013 is still a concern, the result eased the pressure slightly.<\/p>\n
Big-money signings Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz\u2019s first experience of a Merseyside derby left them dazed and confused as Isak barely had a kick in 72 minutes, while the Germany international struggled to string two passes together.<\/p>\n
Makeshift right-back Curtis Jones looked out of sorts and out of place, while even the usually reliable Szoboszlai failed to have an impact.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So it was some wonder they found themselves ahead in the 29th minute through Salah\u2019s 12th of the season.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s press finally brought rewards as Dwight McNeil\u2019s aimless pass backwards picked out Cody Gakpo and he threaded a brilliant ball in behind the centre-backs for Salah to sweep in at the far post.<\/p>\n
It was against the run of play as Beto had forced an early diving save out of Giorgi Mamardashvili, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall had induced Jones into a risky shoulder-to-shoulder challenge in the penalty area and Beto horribly skewed wide when one-on-one.<\/p>\n
That was before Iliman Ndiaye had a goal ruled out after VAR spotted Jake O\u2019Brien had been offside from Jordan Pickford\u2019s long diagonal before crossing.<\/p>\n
Salah\u2019s fifth goal in eight games settled Liverpool down, with the Egyptian determined to make his last outing against the old enemy count, at one point tracking back to block Vitalii Mykolenko\u2019s cross for a corner.<\/p>\n
But Liverpool\u2019s confidence is as fragile as their defending and when Ibrahima Konate reacted slowly to the excellent Dewsbury-Hall picking up Mykolenko\u2019s ball down the left Beto slid in ahead of Robertson for the 54th-minute equaliser.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Mamardashvili, in the side due to an injury to Alisson Becker, was carried off in the collision, which meant a Premier League debut for Freddie Woodman, who just over a year ago was playing for Preston against Portsmouth and whose only previous Liverpool appearance was October\u2019s Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old, with just four Premier League appearances to his name with Newcastle in 2021-22, dealt well with his first test, an angled shot from Ndiaye, while Robertson fired wide at the other end before Van Dijk found the net with time almost up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virgil van Dijk scored an stoppage-time header to win the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-406892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}