Abdoulaye Doucoure and Curtis Jones were on the centre of an enormous bust-up within the immediate aftermath of Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Everton on Wednesday night.
Liverpool seemed to be heading in the right direction to secure a 2-1 victory in the ultimate Merseyside derby at Goodison Park but James Tarkowski struck within the eighth minute of injury time to rescue a draw for David Moyes’ men.
Doucoure then sparked a mass brawl between each sets of players immediately after the full-time whistle as he celebrated Everton’s last-gasp goal directly in front of Liverpool’s supporters within the away section.
Television replays caught Doucoure making a shushing gesture towards the Liverpool fans before Jones rushed over to push the Everton midfielder.
Jones rushed over and Doucoure by the shirt before he was pulled away by Ashley Young and Carlos Alcaraz.
Each sets of players then rushed in with each police and matchday stewards forced to step in to stop the fighting.
Doucoure was also seen making a talking gesture together with his hand towards Virgil van Dijk as he was leaving the pitch.
Each Doucoure and Jones were sent off by referee Michael Oliver after the full-time whistle, while Liverpool manager Arne Slot and assistant coach Sipke Hulshoff was also given a red card.
The draw at Goodison Park has left Liverpool seven points clear of Arsenal at the highest of the Premier League with 14 games remaining.
Everton, meanwhile, move as much as fifteenth and are 10 points clear of 18th-placed Leicester City.
When asked about Doucoure’s actions after the sport, Van Dijk told BBC Sport: ‘It was a really big provocation from one certain player.
‘All of us saw it and reacted as a team as we were capable of do. You realize what happens nowadays, it becomes one big tussle.
‘Then it will not be me who has to cope with it, it’s the referee and today I’m undecided he had it fully under control.’
Speaking about Doucoure’s red card, Moyes said: ‘I’m dissatisfied with Doucoure because we’d like him, we’re down on numbers in the mean time.
‘We’ve got to watch out what we do. Discipline is rarely easy sometimes in these games and tonight was a game where quite easily sending offs occur.’
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