Gomes’ horrific dislocated ankle is where the public focus should be, but a worrying display from the match officials should not be overlooked.

As he lay on the pitch in agony at Goodison Park, thoughts sympathetically and rightly turned to the future of Andre Gomes. When would he return and could his horrific ankle injury prevent him from playing at the highest level again?

Even among the opposition players, particularly the tearful Son Heung-min, this was a bigger concern than the outcome of the match.

Yet at the same time as the unfortunate Andre Gomes awaited the verdict of Everton’s medical team on his future in top level professional football, the match officials – both on the pitch and at Stockley Park – made a call which will define their own careers.

This is not because Martin Atkinson or Anthony Taylor, in the VAR room, will be demoted or suffer any great punishment for their decision to send Son off.

It’s simply because they have proved they do not have the personalities to ever referee successfully in Champions League finals, World Cup finals and the other very biggest showpieces the game has to offer.

The Gomes incident was the most fundamental possible test of a referee’s character and ability.

Like a firefighter going into a burning building, your training will allow you to do the job competently but the ability to make a split second judgement call separates the very best.

Moments like this are where the cream rise to the top – those who can dispassionately analyse what they saw and come up with a decision.

The more fragile will react emotionally, whether out of concern for the player or fear of the consequences of not handing out the maximum punishment to an opponent who caused such a serious injury.

In farcical scenes, Atkinson could be seen holding a yellow card, but choosing to instead hand out a red card to Son after seeing the extent of Gomes’ injury.

And at Stockley Park, despite having the benefit of video replays, Anthony Taylor lacked the courage to make the decision he knew to be right and order Martin Atkinson to reproduce the yellow card.

In that moment, the two officials showed a weakness that top referees can never show. They decided that the reaction was more important than the action – the Premier League’s statement even said as much.

In doing so, they proved that they are fundamentally flawed as referees. That they are malleable and, in another situation, could be cynically exploited by the players they preside over.

The very best referees – the Cuneyt Cakirs, the Nestor Pitanas, the Alireza Faghanis and the Michael Olivers – get decisions wrong, but for the right reasons. Because they always decide with clarity of thought rather than hesitating.

That is a category that Martin Atkinson and Anthony Taylor showed on Merseyside that they will never be in.