Goodison Park’s 10 most iconic matches
The second leg of the semi final of the Cup Winners Cup lives in inherited folklore as the best ever atmosphere at Goodison Park. We beat Bayern Munich 3–1 to set up a final against Rapid Vienna in Rotterdam that we would go on to win, and lift our first European trophy. On that night manager Howard Kendall famously said, “get it in the box, the Gwladys Street will suck it in.” That was before my time, however, and so to keep this list manageable I’ve restricted myself to games that have taken place since my first visit, in 1994.
Part 1: The Biggest Goals in the Biggest Games
1994 vs. Liverpool. A new manager and a new cult hero. An unplayable Duncan Ferguson gives us a 2–0 win against our arch rivals.
2002 vs. Arsenal. The visitors were Champions but Everton were level headed into injury time, and up stepped 16 year old Wayne Rooney for his first goal in the Premier League and the start of his sensational career.
2004 vs. Liverpool. A narrow 1–0 win against our arch rivals.
2005 vs. Manchester United. Goodison Park, under the lights, Duncan Ferguson, diving header, Gwlady street. It doesn’t get better than that.
2008 vs. Fiorentina. You could see the stadium shaking as Everton overturned a 2–0 deficit to be within 1 goal of progressing to the semi finals of the Europa League. It didn’t come, however, and we went out on penalties. When Arteta scored the equaliser, it seemed to be the best atmosphere of the last 30 years.
2022 vs. Liverpool. A totally unexpected but monumental performance and result.
Part 2: The Relegation Survival Series
1994 vs. Wimbledon. The final game of the season. Everton went 2–0 down but a dramatic comeback sealed survival and scenes of jubilation.
1998 vs. Coventry. For the second time in just 4 years we survived relegation on the final day. 1–0 ahead we missed a penalty, conceded an equaliser, and had to hang on to make the most of Bolton losing at Chelsea.
2022 vs. Crystal Palace. Once again we came from 2–0 down to win 3–2.
This was the situation during the match.
And the scenes after the final whistle were simply incredible.
2023 vs. Bournemouth. At one point during the second half Leicester were winning and we were heading towards relegation. But Doucoure’s wonderstrike and a great Jordan Pickford save in 10 minutes of added time (!) meant that we won and stayed up. For more on our 2023 relegation battle, see here.
Honorable mention
May 29th 2016, Tony Bellew vs. Ilunga Makubu. When local boxer Tony Bellew was cast as light heavyweight champion “Pretty” Ricky Conlan in the Hollywood blockbuster “Creed”, he insisted that Goodison Park would serve as the fictional venue for the world title fight. That’s why in a home game against West Brow fans saw a half time message from Sylvester Stallone asking fans to remain in their seats at half time. An audio technician then provided a series of prompts to record crowd footage and background noise. Listen carefully while watching the movie and you might make out chants of “Everton” and “Kopites are gobshites”!
Well, what started as a Hollywood dream became a reality when Goodison Park was chosen to host Bellew’s actual world title fight, against Ilunga Makubu, 1 year later. It was an intense and emotional build up, with Bellew using the home dressing room and walking out to an air raid siren (later used by the football team) and then Z-cars. It looked like a stunning atmosphere, and although Bellew looked as though his emotions were prompting too much risk, a 3rd round knock out and some iconic commentary:
“Bellew’s done it! Everton, Goodison Park, goes beserk!”
