A thrilling Merseyside derby ended 3-3 at Goodison Park as Daniel Sturridge’s late header gave earned Liverpool a point against rivals Everton.
At the final whistle of a game full of goals, chances and incidents both sets of fans couldn’t helped but applaud their heroes’ exploits.
Roberto Martinez’s men will possibly feel hard done by having had the better of the match but both teams will be happy with a share of the spoils from such a topsy-turvy game.
It was Liverpool who grabbed an early lead in the encounter when a corner fell to an inexplicably unmarked Philippe Coutinho inside the six-yard box, and he duly prodded home the loose ball.
Their advantage didn’t last long though as Ross Barkley’s knock down from a free-kick fell to Kevin Mirallas just two minutes later and the Belgian flicked the ball beyond compatriot Simon Mignolet to make it 1-1.
The end-to end nature of the game then saw Romelu Lukaku, set free by Steven Pienaar, denied a goal by Mignolet, who charged out to meet him.
But it was Liverpool who took the lead again after 19 minutes, as Suarez stepped up and curled a low free-kick through the wall and into the bottom right corner past Tim Howard’s despairing dive, with the American rightly rollocking his team-mates, who split and allowed the strike to find the back of the net.
A typically frenetic derby saw Barkley, who nearly struck with a fine effort, booked for what Phil Dowd deemed a dive but team-mate Mirallas was lucky to only be cautioned when his studs up, knee high challenge on Suarez left the Reds striker poleaxed in the middle of the pitch.
The second period continued to see challenges fly in with Leighton Baines forced off after Jordan Henderson caught him with a boot to the foot, but his replacement, Gerard Deulofeu nearly got Roberto Martinez’s side level as the starlet, on loan from Barcelona, raced through on goal, but his tame strike was hit straight at the on-rushing Mignolet.
Liverpool also missed chances though and no-one was more guilty than Joe Allen who, somehow, shot wide from six yards out.
Flashes of yellow continued to spew from Dowd’s pocket with Joe Allen and Lucas Leiva booked as they attempted to stop Everton bursting forward, but the Toffees could only be denied for so long.
Lukaku’s long range free-kick wasn’t dealt with well by the previously superb Mignolet and, after the goalkeeper lost out on the rebound, the Belgian striker was able to fire home from Mirallas’ pass.
The unstoppable Lukaku then thought he’d given Everton all three points with eight minutes remaining when he powered in a fine header from a corner. But he didn’t bank on Liverpool substitute Sturridge nodding home an excellent Steven Gerrard free-kick with just one minute left on the clock
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