EVERTON FC captain Tim Cahill is desperate to win his battle to be fit for tomorrow’s Merseyside derby – after hailing the “magical” match as one of the biggest in club football.
Cahill continues to recover from the badly bruised shin he suffered when on the receiving end of a poor challenge from Vincent Kompany in last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Manchester City.
The Australian will be given every chance of making the 216th running of a fixture in which he is Everton’s leading post-war scorer with five goals in 13 appearances.
And the 31-year-old admits the game has become “part of his life” since arriving at Goodison from Millwall for £1.5million in the summer of 2004.
“I think it is one of the biggest (matches) other than playing for your country in a World Cup,” said Cahill. “The derby is magical.
“It is not only the day of the game, it is after, it is before, it is the grudges, the banter.
“For those 90 minutes the whole of Liverpool stops and you have countries around the world watching.
“Going into the game, whether you are injured or you have little problems whatever, it is forgotten.
“Everything is left on the pitch and for me, coming from Australia, I feel the same sort of attitude.
“I found it hard to get here, I have this opportunity so I just don’t want to miss a second on the pitch – I want to try to affect it, hence why I’ve had so much joy in the derbies.
“For the fans and for me it means everything because it is part of my life now.”
