If ever there was the definition of contrasting styles, Liverpool's meeting with Everton on this day five years ago was it.
Arriving at Anfield with Sam Allardyce at the helm, the Blues' game plan was clear from the off - play for a point and frustrate the home side. Struggling to find a way past the visitors, it took a moment of brilliance from who else but Mohamed Salah three minutes before half-time to break the deadlock.
Shimmying past those in his path, the Egyptian forward engineered space to curl the ball into the top left corner past Jordan Pickford. As snow fell down on the pitch from the sky, it was a goal that occurred almost in slow motion as those around Salah watched on in disbelief. Such was the sublime nature of this finish, it later won the FIFA Puskas Award - an accolade which recognises the best goal scored each calendar year.
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Everton offered little in the final third in response to this effort and left Anfield with 21 per cent possession to their name and just two shots on target over the 90 minutes of play. As the clock ticked down, it seemed there was only one plausible outcome. That all changed in the 77th minute, however, when referee Craig Pawson controversially awarded the Toffees a penalty after Dominic Calvert-Lewin went to ground inside the box after feeling contact from Dejan Lovren.
Replays showed the Liverpool defender placed his arm on the Everton forward, who gladly accepted this as an invitation to appeal for a spot-kick. With no VAR in use at this time, Pawson's decision could not be reviewed and the penalty stood. Up stepped Wayne Rooney to convert, scoring his first goal in a Merseyside Derby to earn his side an unlikely point.
Struggling to contain his emotions after the full-time whistle, Lovren was restrained by both James Milner and Jordan Henderson as the Croatian centre-back attempted to make his way over to the match officials. It was not only the 33-year-old who was in disbelief by Pawson's call to award a spot-kick as Jurgen Klopp soon after delivered one of his most memorable post-match interviews.
Asked by Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison if he saw the result as a 'wasted opportunity' for his team, the German responded: "What do you think? I saw only one team today, to be honest, playing but the ref thought 'We have to make it a little bit more'.
Sharing his thoughts on the penalty, Klopp continued: "I can't believe the situation with all the challenges: we were completely clean and didn't make any fouls. Then there was Sigurdsson on Henderson which, again, was a red card. Like in all derby games I've been in so far, there has always been one really nasty one. With all the challenges and only one team playing, to give such a penalty away, it is unbelievable. Calvert-Lewin makes it smart and makes a step in this direction but, even then, it's nothing."
Davison then interjects by asking whether Lovren 'needed to make the challenge', to which Klopp snapped back: "He doesn't make a challenge. The hand is like this [gesticulating] on the back, you saw it! If you think it is a penalty, do it - say it!"
Asked by Klopp whether he believed Pawson was in the right for his controversial call, Davison described the incident as 'soft' but nonetheless a penalty. By this point, Klopp's patience had well and truly run out. "We can stop the interview because I only want to talk to people with a little bit of an understanding of football," said the Reds' boss.
Klopp's mood worsened after being informed there were pundits in the Sky Sports studio who also shared the view it was a spot-kick, prompting the following sarcastic response: "Oh, sorry. Then I'm wrong and you're all right. When all the other people are right, then I must be wrong. Right? Do we have to fill five minutes [of the interview]? Obviously I'm not in the mood to answer your questions and you don't have better questions, do you?"
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