Being a sports fan is never more embarrassing than in those moments when it's made clear that your personal obsessions and hangups are your own. All it takes are a few accurately derisive tweets from Kevin Durant, or a photo of two players you thought were sworn enemies chumming it up at one of Michael Rubin's awful parties, to be reminded that the people who actually play these games experience the sport in ways that are entirely alien to you, and vice versa.
There are moments, however, when the membrane between athletes and fans is at its thinnest, and the game in question resolves into a universal experience in which everyone is a fanatic. On Wednesday, Everton and Liverpool created one of these moments.
Devoid of context, the 2-2 draw the Toffees and Pool Boys played through didn't mean much. For Liverpool, two dropped points are unlikely to put much of a dent in their still sky-high title chances, especially given Arsenal's recent injury woes. For Everton, a point gained against the league leaders is always something to cherish, but their recent winning streak already had them pulling clear of the relegation fight. Nobody's fate is likely to have been altered by this game.
Context is everything, though, and the circumstances this game was played under made it feel like the most important game of the year. It was the season's first Merseyside Derby—itself the feistiest rivalry in England—and also the last one to ever be played at Goodison Park, Everton's home ground since 1892. That's the kind of thing that will easily get fans keyed up for a rivalry game, but even the most electric of stadium atmospheres are only as good as the amount of charge the players themselves channel. As is tradition, both the Reds and the Blues came into this one absolutely crackling, and spent the first half playing with an intensity you might find in a cup final. The ref flashed five yellow cards in the first 45 minutes, and each team scored a goal that buoyed their hopes.
When the second half started, Everton pushed into a higher gear, hoping to ride the energy of the moment into a second goal before Liverpool's stark talent advantage could overtake them. It didn't work. In the 73rd minute, Mo Salah seemed to put the game to bed with a smooth two-touch finish in the box to give Liverpool the lead. But then, in the dying seconds of stoppage time, James Tarkowski found himself running towards a flicked ball in the box, which he volleyed into the top of the net for a nearly last-kick equalizer:
The story of this instantly unforgettable game will be defined by that kick and everything that came after it. Tarkowski threw himself into the arms of two ball boys and was overtaken by a mob of pitch-invading fans; Vitaliy Mykolenko completely lost his mind; Arne Slot looked like he was about to puke up a kidney. After the final whistle (and an agonizing VAR review; seriously, who wants this shit?), Abdoulaye Doucouré ran straight to the away end to goad the visiting fans, and was tackled from behind by Curtis Jones. Slot, his lid still fully flipped, got in the referee's face and gave him an exaggeratedly sarcastic handshake. All three were shown red cards.
Only certain types of games, and certain types of goals, can compel a French-born Malian guy to taunt a mass of raging Liverpudlians, or compel a local player who came up through Liverpool's academy to defend those fans' honor, or compel a Dutch manager to get as angry as we've ever seen him. You expect the fans to lose their heads in a situation like that—that's what they are there to do—but it takes a special set of circumstances for the players and fans to find themselves in the same berserk frenzy.
Tarkowski's goal was a fitting sendoff for the Merseyside Derby's time at Goodison Park, and it will rightfully be remembered as one of the best ever scored in that stadium. It should also stand as a reminder that sports can occasionally deliver such a potent dose of tension, anxiety, surprise, and catharsis so as to dissolve the barriers between those who watch it and those who play it. In those moments, we all get to be insane together.
