Abdoulaye Doucoure breaks silence after Virgil van Dijk slams his half in Liverpool brawl
Everton ace Abdoulaye Doucoure received one of four red cards shown after the Merseyside Derby following his brawl with Liverpool’s Curtis Jones at Goodison Park
Abdoulaye Doucoure has shrugged off Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk’s gripes about the frenzied scenes that led to his red card in the Merseyside derby.
The Everton midfielder was one of four people shown the red after full-time in the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park on Wednesday. His exuberant celebrations in front of the Liverpool fans sparked a furious response from Curtis Jones, leading to a full-scale scuffle involving players from both teams.
Referee Michael Oliver ended up sending off both Doucoure and Jones, with Liverpool manager Arne Slot and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff also getting their marching orders, after Everton secured a point with their late equaliser through James Tarkowski.
Doucoure has since had his say, defiantly posting on social media post-match: “PASSION , DETERMINATION, DESIRE – GOODISON PARK”.
This comes hot on the heels of criticism from Liverpool skipper Van Dijk, who implied that Doucoure was responsible for the end-of-game fracas, reports the Mirror.
Van Dijk commented: “We saw how they celebrated the goal, they have all the right to. I think Abdoulaye Doucoure wanted to provoke our fans, I think that is what I saw and Curtis Jones didn’t think it was the right thing to do. And then you know what happens if there is a little tussle.”
He added: “I didn’t think the referee had the game under control. Both teams had to deal with it. This was their cup final. I think the referee had a big part in the game, in terms of certain challenges were given as fouls and similar weren’t.”
Everton manager David Moyes has voiced his disappointment over the sending off of Abdoulaye Doucoure, lamenting his absence for the upcoming match against Crystal Palace. He told reporters, “I didn’t see it from where I was.”
Moyes added, after reviewing the incident, “I have had a chance to see it and I’m disappointed because Doucoure played really well tonight and I’m going to now lose him because he’s got a second yellow card, which turned into a red.”
Reflecting on the intense atmosphere at Goodison Park, Moyes said: “The emotions were running high here all night, the stadium was at fever pitch. You could see what it meant to supporters at the end of the game, the crowd was rocking. It was one of the big nights.”
In a thrilling Merseyside derby, Everton managed to grab a point in dramatic fashion. Beto put the Toffees ahead before Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah turned things around for Liverpool.
However, Tarkowski scored in stoppage time to earn Everton a draw, capping off the pulsating evening with scenes of pandemonium at full-time.
