Lucas Leiva, fondly referred to back home as 'The Brazilian Gerrard', received his first taste of the atmosphere and passion of a Merseyside derby on Saturday.

Replacing Stevie Gerrard as a substitute midway through the second half, Lucas showed his remarkable ability, producing some marvellous footwork and piecing together several intelligent passes of great accuracy.

In injury time, he blasted an on-target shot goalwards during a period of great Liverpool pressure, but was robbed of the match-winning goal by the blatant cheating of Everton's former Manchester United defender Phil Neville. Seeing that Leiva's shot was goalbound, Neville's hand denied him the glory with what could arguably be described as reflex 'save of the season' before taking the inevitable red-card walk of shame.

''Neville's hand denied Leiva the glory with what could arguably be described as reflex 'save of the season'''


Fortunately, Dirk Kuyt stepped up to slot the penalty home and claim the full three points - which team-player Leiva, good sport that he is, would be the first to agree was the most important thing on the day.

Manager Rafa Benitez said after the match: "We weren't keeping the ball very well and were in too much of a hurry sometimes with our final pass. I put Lucas on because he is a very good player who can pass the ball well for us. In the end, he helped us win the game by having the shot that led to our winning penalty."

Liverpool fans will be buoyed by Leiva's display. His performance gives Rafa a happy selection headache as the talented Brazilian international stakes his claim for more regular first-team selection in centre field.

Is it right that if Liverpool had missed that penalty, Everton would actually have BENEFITED from Neville's cheating? Post your comments below.