Everton manager David Moyes joked that he didn’t realise rivals Liverpool were playing on Tuesday night since he went to the theatre instead.
Moyes was in command at Goodison Park in February when the season’s first Merseyside Derby finished in a draw. Liverpool’s title bid was nearly derailed by James Tarkowski’s late goal that day, but Arne Slot’s side has since expanded their lead.
Liverpool has a chance to win two trophies this season, with a Carabao Cup final against Newcastle on Sunday and a league campaign starting in April. However, they will not be able to add a Champions League title, having lost on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Moyes attended the unveiling of a bust in honour of Everton owner Bill Kenwright at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, followed by a performance of Blood Brothers.
“That’s one way to avoid having to watch Liverpool tonight by being here to see Blood Brothers,” a BBC Liverpool reporter told Moyes. The manager gave a tongue-in-cheek response, saying: “I didn’t know there was a game on tonight, is there?”
Moyes will undoubtedly review the film as he prepares for a meeting with Liverpool. His team will go to Anfield on April 2, following the international break.
Before that, they host West Ham at Goodison Park on Saturday. The reverse fixture ended goalless in November, when Moyes’ predecessor, Sean Dyche, was still in charge.
Liverpool can afford to drop points between now and the conclusion of the season after opening up a 15-point lead over closest rivals Arsenal. They will be looking for a huge response after their European exit, with boss Slot pleased with the performance but not the outcome.
“It was the best game of football I was ever involved in,” the Dutchman told Amazon Prime. “Incredible performance, especially compared to previous week.
“We were all over them for the first 20/25 minutes, creating chance after chance, and then we fell down 1-0. Probably almost the reverse; perhaps we ran out of luck tonight since the margins were so small.
“After 90 minutes, it felt like we deserved more than a 1-0 deficit. I waited for us to score. I don’t recall the second half, save for the last five minutes, when they threatened us once or twice. We played the perfect game except for not scoring goals; the same thing occurred to PSG last week when they played the perfect game but failed to score, and it happened to us tonight.”
