Moyes defiant after being booked for celebration

Everton manager David Moyes has criticised the laws of the game after he was booked for sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate Beto’s last-gasp equaliser against Brighton.

Beto came off the bench to score a 97th-minute equaliser on his 27th birthday, earning the Toffees a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium.

Unable to contain his emotions after snatching the point, the 63-year-old Scot set off from his dugout and ran onto the pitch, before referee Chris Kavanagh issued him with a yellow card for leaving the technical area.

Moyes drew comparisons with David Pleat’s celebrations at Maine Road after his Luton side avoided relegation from the top flight on the final day of the 1982-83 season with a win against Manchester City.

“I hope you’re not going to call me ‘Pleaty’ going forward,” Moyes said after the game.

“The difference is Pleat doesn’t get booked for it, they think it’s OK and everybody enjoys seeing the celebrations.

“We’re killing it. The managers can’t come out of their technical area to celebrate a goal, knee sliding, do things which give you people [the media] quite a bit to talk about.”

Asked if he would do it again, Moyes replied: “I bloody will do it again!

“Actually, if I’d been a bit more mobile, I might have done a knee slide. That would only have got me a yellow as well, so I might as well have gone the whole hog.”

Earlier this season, former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca was handed a one-match touchline ban after being shown a second yellow card for leaving the technical area to celebrate with his players in their last-gasp win against Liverpool.

Football managers have produced some unforgettable celebrations down the years and found their place in football folklore – but many would be punished under the current laws.

Jose Mourinho ran the length of Old Trafford’s touchline to celebrate Francisco Costinha’s late goal as Porto knocked Manchester United out of the 2003-04 Champions League.

A re-enactment of the moment came a decade later when Chelsea knocked out Paris St-Germain to reach the semi-finals of the competition, while the Portuguese also sprinted down the touchline and onto the pitch of Camp Nou as his Inter side stunned Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2010.

Jurgen Klopp ran onto the pitch to hug goalkeeper Alisson Becker after Divock Origi scored a 95th-minute goal against Merseyside rivals Everton in 2018.