The last African King signed off on his final Merseyside derby this weekend, as Mohamed Salah marked a new environment with familiar habits.
Sunday's derby was the first to be played at Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium, making a new chapter in this eternal rivalry after over 130 years at Goodison Park.
New stadium, that same familiar wind swirling in from the Mersey, and Salah in no mood to forget his old customs. He scored again, Beto replied, and then... in the 100th minute... Virgil van Dijk rose through the noise and gave Liverpool a 2-1 victory that silenced the blue half of the city.
The evening belonged to celebration, although the afternoon had belonged to departure, with Salah, contesting his final derby, signed the ledger one more time...tying Steven Gerrard, in the process, for the most goals scored in the Merseyside derby during the Premier League era.
The goal came in the 29th minute; Salah, Liverpool exit pending, ignoring the criticism to punish the Toffees with trademark ruthlessness.
Everton had begun the stronger side, surging, pressing, reminding Liverpool of their recent failings against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City. Then Dwight McNeil, under pressure, misjudged his teammate's run and passed the ball straight to Cody Gakpo.
He moved quickly, Everton panicked, and Salah was picked out by his magnificent defence-splitting ball inside the box. Much has been made of the 33-year-old's waning qualities, but his anticipation and acceleration served him well here, as he raced onto Gakpo's sumptuous pass ahead of his opposite man and fired sharply beyond Jordan Pickford.
Salah, of course, made his impact in the last derby at Goodison Park in February last year, appearing to have scored the winner with a late effort only for James Tarkowski to score deep in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Toffees.
A new stadium, fresh steel, the same old scene that always plays; some players need familiar scenery, but Salah scores in any architecture. The goal was his ninth in the derby. Only grand old names like Ian Rush, Dixie Dean and Alex 'Sandy' Young stand ahead of him and Gerrard in the annals of that fixture.
Salah has now scored at 42 different stadiums for Liverpool, only three players have scored at more different venues for the club in Reds history.
Recently, we examined his big-match record at Liverpool, one of the few criticisms that can be levelled at the forward during his epochal tenure on Merseyside.
Football creates quaint tribunals, and while Salah's consistency is near-unparalleled, those odd evenings when titles are decided or when European ties are settled appear to weigh heavily against him.
Critics can't help but repeat those familiar refrains: 'Prolific, sure, but where is he in the big games?'
The derby has proven to be part of Salah's riposte.
His double in a 4-1 victory at Goodison Park midway through the testing 20-21 season, or another pair of goals at Anfield in October 2023 will live particularly long in the memory.
During his time at the club, the derby might not have had silverware or titles on the line, but the pressure of a city splitting in two cannot be ignored; these are fixtures where form gives way to feeling and tactics give way to emotion.
Salah's numbers in this environment, this most resonant of old English derbies, is testimony. Nine goals represents a repeated authority amidst civic pressure, an ability to thrive in intimate environments, as well as important ones.
Janusz Michallik says Liverpool's late Merseyside derby winner can't mask the problems within Arne Slot's squad.
"I've had fear going into every derby," Gerrard said in 2014. "The fear of losing. It's not nerves or a butterfly feeling, but it is there in the days leading up to the game."
While many other African players have featured in the derby over the years and had their moments - Johannesburg-born Gordon Hodgson's double against the Blues in 1935, Bruce Grobelaar's own goal in 1984, another (going the other way) from Joseph Yobo in 2009 - none has come close to Salah's impact.
Sadio Mané scored four in the Merseyside derby, also appearing to treat the calendar date as a personal appointment at times. He memorably scored after two minutes and 15 seconds in October - breaking a record for the fastest Liverpool goal scored in the fixture - and also settled the 227th derby with a 94th minute on his first appearance at Goodison.
Everton were glad to see the back of him, and they'll be happy too - no doubt - to wave Salah off into the sunset as well. Everton's African impact in the derby - as was the case again this weekend - has often come from labour, grit and disruption rather than headlines.
Idrissa Gana Gueye, still going strong, remains a warrior-like presence in these fixtures, the master of those old midfield crafts, while Abdoulaye Doucouré brought running, physicality and confrontation, and Iliman Ndiaye contributes improvisation, flair and guile in the final third.
He thought he'd scored on Sunday, only for an offside call to deny his goal, and appears most likely to step into Salah and Mane's shoes as the Merseyside derby's next African artist.
Neither Ndiaye nor the others has bent the scoreboard like Salah. They may grace a derby, they may influence it, but they won't do what he has done.
Who steps up now?
Everton will certainly hope it's Beto, who continued his mini revival under David Moyes by equalising when he bravely lunged in to meet Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's 54th-minute cross to give the hosts hope of a result.
If the School of Science continue to stabilise, if service continues to improve, if confidence survives its usual storms, then he could become the principal African face of this fixture for the coming years.
Ndiaye is the complement, but there's something about Beto's physicality, how he raises his game for combat, his ability to unsettle defenders with brute force rather than subtly, which suits the Merseyside derby.
Liverpool will be putting their hopes in Rio Ngumoha, who was introduced as a 72nd-minute substitute for Alexander Isak on Sunday, to write the club's next African chapter in this storied fixture.
The Anglo-Nigerian's entrance meant he became the youngest player to feature in the derby, as he continues - like Salah before him - to break records for the Reds. His cameos to date suggest a talent with the potential to live up to the biggest moments, although whether he can translate his prolific youth form to the top level remains to be seen.
Certainly, however, Liverpool supporters speak his name with the optimism reserved for those who have not yet had time to disappoint.
For now, at least, the page turns on Salah's derby contribution. No African has meant more to this fixture, and it's hard to see how any player will in the future...at least not for many years to come.
Records cast long shadows, and Salah leaves more than numbers.
He leaves a model of repeated excellence across seasons, managers and stadiums. He scored when Liverpool chased titles, he scored when they sought recovery, he scored at Goodison, at Anfield, and at Everton's brand new home.
This rarity is why we're talking about a chapter at all.
Cities rebuild docks, rename stands, replace their spiritual home...yet they cannot easily replace a habit.
Liverpool have looked for a big Salah moment in the derby for the last nine years. On Sunday, they saw it, McNeil's error, a glimpse of space, a flash of red, that left foot, the net rippling.
Now, the gate shuts behind the last African king of this fixture, younger footsteps gather in the corridor.