Virgil van Dijk headed Liverpool to a 1-0 Merseyside derby win over Everton in minute 90+10, turning a tense finish into a result that will keep the city red for the coming months. The defender’s late goal landed after 100 minutes of play and gave Liverpool the decisive moment they had been chasing all night.
Virgil van Dijk scored the winner in minute 90+10, ending a derby that had been poised for a draw until the last swing of the match. Mo Salah also scored, and the game was described as his very last derby against Everton, adding another layer to a night Liverpool will remember for its timing as much as its result.
The Merseyside derby always carries more than three points, and this one had the shape of a contest that would be decided by one breakthrough rather than sustained control. Liverpool found that breakthrough at the very end, with van Dijk rising to deliver the header that settled it.
There was, however, a sharp contrast inside the same victory. Salah’s goal offered one kind of farewell note, but it was van Dijk’s late intervention that defined the result and made the difference when the match reached its last minutes. That is what will linger for Liverpool: not just that they beat Everton, but that they did it in the 90+10th minute, with a defender finishing the job.
For Liverpool, the win means the city will be red for the coming months. For Everton, it leaves the frustration of a derby lost at the death. For van Dijk, it was a captain’s kind of ending to a game that had waited until the final heartbeat to choose a side.