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Goodison Park’s Most Famous Matches

Dixie Dean Statue

Goodison Park was once at the vanguard of football stadiums, being the first to have two-tiered stands all the way around the pitch, introducing floodlights before anyone else and also pioneering undersoil heating. It was also where more than a few amazing matches have taken place, with the ‘Grand Old Lady’ all but rocking the ball into the back of the net.

It has fallen into disrepair now, but the ghosts of supporters and players past still live long in the memories of those who were lucky enough to see Everton at their very best.

Here is a look at some of the most famous matches ever to take place at Goodison Park, delighting the Everton faithful who got to see them play out:

Everton 3 – Bayern Munich 1

Nowadays, the idea of Everton beating perennial German champions Bayern Munich 3-1 feels like it might be the punchline to a joke. Back in the 1980s, however, Everton weren’t the laughing stock that they later became, as Goodison Park proved with the 3-1 win over Bayern Munich in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Prior to the 1984-1985 season, Everton’s record in Europe could probably best be described as ‘patchy’. Where Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and, yes, even Liverpool had won in Europe, the Blues had not.

@torturedtoffee83♬ original sound – Tortured Toffee

The club’s victory in the 1984 FA Cup final had put them in the European Cup Winners’ Cup for the following season, scraping past University College Dublin before wins against Inter Bratislava and Fortuna Sittard. That set up a semi-final against Bayern Munich, a side that was thought of as being European royalty. Lothar Matthëus marshalled a side filled with international quality, going on to win the Bundesliga that season. The first-leg finished 0-0, setting up a perfect second-leg at Goodison Park with the Blues already in the FA Cup final.

Nobody really gave Everton much hope, but the manager, Howard Kendall, told his players that they just needed to get the ball into the box and ‘the Gwladys Street will suck it in’. The atmosphere was electric, with nearly 50,000 roaring on the players. There were claims that you could ‘hear the shouts in Bootle’, with Everton adopting a physical approach. In spite of their dominance, it was Bayern who took the lead before half-time. Goodison responded in the interval, however and the crowd roared the players on to a famous 3-1 win.

Rooney Steps up to the Plate

On the 19th of October 2002, Arsenal arrived at Goodison Park as an unbeaten team. They had gone 30 games unbeaten, which was a Premier League record at the time, and were hoping to be able to pip Manchester United to the title. Part of their run had seen the Gunners go 23 games on the road without losing, so many assumed it would be little more than a formality that they’d get the win on Merseyside. Everton, of course, had other ideas. Arsenal were on track to win the game when Freddie Ljungberg scored after just seven minutes.

It didn’t take long for Everton to pull level, however. Lee Carlsey took a shot that bounced off the post, with the crowd sucking the ball into the back of the net; presuming you are happy to ignore Tomasz Radzinski kicking it. Despite pushing for a winner, Arsenal couldn’t find one and in the end the game was settled in the dying moments thanks to a spectacular strike. Wayne Rooney would go on to become one of the Premier League’s best ever forwards, but he was just 16-years-old when he came off the bench to score a stunning winner for the Blues.

The Goal Most People Didn’t See

A 0-0 draw in normal time might not sound like the most thrilling of matches, but when you consider that it was a Merseyside Derby filled with blood and thunder then it makes a little bit more sense. It was the fourth of February 2009 and Liverpool were challenging for the league title, hoping to win the FA Cup for the first time in three years when a visit to Goodison Park was drawn out of the hat. There had been almost two hours of goalless action for ITV viewers at home to sit through, whilst the Goodison faithful had belief they could win it.

Buzzing after the Everton result today – Super, Super Dan, Super Danny Gosling!!

— Ian P (@ianjpennington.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 4:53 AM

In the 118th minute, 19-year-old Dan Gosling stepped up to be counted, taking a shot that deflected off Martin Skrtel’s leg before looping into the back of the net. Goodison erupted, with Evertonians falling over each other as they endured getting one over on their city rivals. For those watching at home, however, they had no idea what had happened on account of the fact that ITV had accidentally cut away to an advert break. It was only when coverage resumed that they found out that Everton had won at Liverpool’s expense.

The Great Escape(s)

It is, perhaps, something of a tragic sign of how far Everton fell over the 30 years since their 1995 FA Cup win that they not only didn’t win a trophy during that time, but also had to scrape the barrel to avoid relegation on more than one occasion. The first time of the Premier League era is probably the most impressive, given the fact that it was a year before their FA Cup win and they actually went 2-0 down to Wimbledon during the match. The Blues had started the season well but their form fell off a cliff, leading to Howard Kendall’s resignation in the December.

@thunderblastards When Everton completed the Great Escape and stayed in the Premier League after this comeback against Wimbledon. ⚽🚀🥅 #everton #evertonfc #efc #goodisonpark #premierleague #football #footytiktok ♬ original sound – Thunder Blastards! 🚀⚽️🥅

The improvement from there was only minor, seeing Everton slip into the relegation zone after the penultimate set of fixtures. It meant that they needed a result on the final day of the season in order to stay up, with that 2-0 deficit looking to have put a nail in their coffin. A controversial penalty, scored by Graham Stuart, gave them some hope, with a volley from Barry Horne drawing them level. A second goal from Stuart saw Goodison Park explode with relief and excitement, especially as results elsewhere ensured their survival.

It was a similar story in 1998, with the Blues hosting Coventry City at Goodison Park and needing a win as well as results going their way to survive. They took a 1-0 lead but missed a penalty, making the Grand Old Lady a decidedly nervous place to be. When Coventry scored an equaliser, more than a few of the people inside the ground feared the worst, but they hung on to a draw and what proved to be a vital point. When Bolton Wanderers failed to beat Chelsea, it meant Everton’s Premier League survival was assured.

Every time Everton survive the manager says Never again we will put our great club through that……IT hasn’t changed in 3 or 4 seasons
We have new owners we have a world class stadium now we need to build a team from scratch with NO mistakes
yikes

— Metrophonic music (@musicstudios.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 3:45 PM

You might think that that would be enough for one set of fans to endure, but the truth is very different. In 2022, for example, Everton needed to beat Crystal Palace in the penultimate game of the season to stay up and it looked like that wasn’t going to happen when the Eagles took a 2-0 lead. When the Blues made it 3-2, however, there was a mini pitch invasion as the supporters felt that they had done enough. When the full-time whistle went, the pitch invasion was significantly bigger in both size, scale and emotion.

Fast forward 12 months and Goodison Park was once again on a knife edge when it looked like relegation was unavoidable. It had essentially come down to either Everton or Leicester City for the final relegation place, with the Blues looking to be the victims when they were drawing and the Foxes took the lead in their game. Abdoulaye Doucouré had other ideas, though, and scored an absolute screamer that Bournemouth’s ‘keeper could do nothing about. Jordan Pickford still needed to produce a wonder-save in the final moments, but Goodison erupted once more.