Goodison Park has had to wait an incredibly long time to witness scenes as good as they saw on Saturday afternoon.
As Abdoulaye Doucoure took down Alex Iwobi’s header and then thundered an effort goal bound, it rippled the net and subsequently sent the Everton fans into pure delirium.
It was a wonderful sight as the French midfielder raced to the corner of the ground and was greeted by several supporters waiting to celebrate with him.
Toffees fans have waited for an age to be back inside the stadium and they couldn’t have greeted the players in a better fashion.
Richarlison raced over to celebrate with him and he was soon joined by the rest of the team who erupted at a sweet strike from a player who doesn’t always score goals.
In scoring that powerful effort, Doucoure arguably outperformed the aforementioned Brazilian, a man who is far more used to finding the net.
In fact, Richarlison scored five of them for Brazil at the recent Olympics as his nation took home the gold medal in the men’s football tournament.
There wasn’t must rest for the forward who was one of the stars of the show on Saturday afternoon in their 3-1 win.
He scored Everton’s first goal of the new campaign and sent Rafa Benitez on the way to a debut win in his first competitive outing at the helm.
However, it was Doucoure who laid the platform with a quintessential performance in the middle of the park.
He was all-action and box to box, gallivanting forward but doing his defensive duties to near perfection.
In the process of completing both of the two dribbles he attempted, the £120k-per-week earner was a monumental presence in midfield.
Doucoure took part in 17 defensive duels and impressively only lost five of them.
He was fouled on three occasions as a ragged Southampton side struggled to live with his dominating physical attributes.
This was the perfect start to the new campaign for a player who has thrived in the royal blue of Everton since signing for £20m last September.
For the scenes after his goal alone, the former Watford man deserves the man of the match award.