Everton scores stoppage-time equalizer against Liverpool in last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park

Four goals, four red cards and a last-gasp equalizer that will go down in English soccer lore.

It was quite the wild ride in the 120th and final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Wednesday.

Everton captain James Tarkowski smashed a shot into the roof of the net in the eighth minute of stoppage time to secure a dramatic 2-2 draw with Liverpool in the Premier League.

It was virtually the last kick of the game, sparking wild celebrations inside one of English soccer's most venerable and atmospheric stadiums, which will be demolished at the end of this season.

“Amazing to score and what an amazing night,” said Tarkowski, whose rare goal will be remembered as one of the great moments in Goodison Park's long history.

The “Grand Old Lady” — as the stadium is fondly called by the locals — has been Everton’s home since 1892. The club is moving to a new 52,888-capacity venue at Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool’s waterfront.

Tarkowski's strike denied Liverpool a victory that would have lifted the leaders nine points clear atop the league. Instead, Liverpool's advantage over Arsenal is seven points after 24 games.

Beto put Everton ahead in the 11th minute — the striker celebrated by hitting LeBron James' “Silencer” move — before Alexis Mac Allister equalized in the 16th by heading home a right-wing cross from Mohamed Salah, who put Liverpool in front in the 73rd with his league-leading 22nd goal of the campaign.

Then came Tarkowski's amazing — and, to some, fitting — intervention, with his goal only awarded after a long, agonizing video review for a potential offside in the buildup.

“I just saw the ball going wide and thought, ‘Last minute, why not?' Tarkowski said. "It managed to fall to me and I let it rip.”

The action didn't stop there.

After the final whistle, Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure appeared to celebrate in front of Liverpool's fans and was confronted by Liverpool substitute Curtis Jones, leading to a melee involving more players, officials, stewards and even police officers.

Doucoure and Jones both were shown second yellow cards, while Liverpool manager Arne Slot and his assistant, Sipke Hulshoff, got straight red cards. Slot might have been sent off for shaking the hand of referee Michael Oliver aggressively.

The home fans created a typically feverish atmosphere — blue smoke filled the air around the ground before kickoff and Everton's players were given a rapturous welcome as they arrived for the game — and they witnessed the most amazing of finishes.

“The place was boiling hot all night, emotional,” Everton manager David Moyes said. "It was an incredible atmosphere inside the stadium.”

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk acknowledged it was “intense" and had his own opinion on the post-match melee.

“I think Abdoulaye Doucoure wanted to provoke our fans," Van Dijk said. “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.”

As for Slot's thoughts on the game, the occasion and perhaps his own red card, they will have to wait. He wasn't allowed to give post-match interviews after getting sent off, under Premier League rules.

The stats will show the teams met 120 times in all competitions at Goodison Park, starting with the first meeting in 1894, and each won 41 times.

It was a rearranged league game, with the original meeting — scheduled for Dec. 7 — postponed because of stormy weather.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Everton's James Tarkowski reacts during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton's Beto, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Referee Michael Oliver shows a yellow card to Liverpool's Curtis Jones, right, during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Soccer fans react during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton's Iliman Ndiaye receives medical attention during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton's Beto, right, scores his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister, centre, scores his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton's Beto, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton fans ahead the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton's Beto, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, centre, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Everton fans ahead the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Supporters of Everton hold banners ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

A general view of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Fans walk outside of the Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Fans outside of the Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

A logo of Everton's soccer team is seen outside of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool in Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Cars are parking outside of the of Goodison Park stadium ahead of the English Premier League soccer match between Everton and Liverpool, Liverpool, England, Wednesday, Feb.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk applauds as he warms-up before the English League Cup semifinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah scores the second goal from the penalty spot during the English League Cup semifinal second leg soccer match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, England, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Liverpool's manager Arne Slot, left gestures as he speaks to his players Liverpool's Harvey Elliott, Liverpool's Diogo Jota during the English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Plymouth Argyle and Liverpool at Home Park stadium in Plymouth, England, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Everton fans holding banners in the stands before the English FA Cup fourth round soccer match between Everton and Bournemouth at at Goodison Park, Liverpool, England, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation