Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said Everton's Ross Barkley apologised to him after a "mistimed" tackle in the second half of Monday's Merseyside derby.
Before Sadio Mane's late winner for Liverpool, the game threatened to be overshadowed by a horror challenge on Henderson midway through the second half by Barkley that could easily have resulted in referee Mike Dean brandishing a red card.
Barkley caught the Liverpool captain extremely late and high on the ankle, which sparked pushing and shoving between the two sets of players that eventually saw Seamus Coleman booked.
"It was pretty late," Henderson said on Sky Sports. "I know Ross well -- he's a good lad, I'm good friends with him. I think he just mistimed the tackle, obviously. After the game he apologised.
"Thankfully I'm all right. It was just mistimed, you're going to get them in derby games. When you're on the pitch you give 100 percent to win the game."
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp reacted to viewing the tackle by putting his hands on his head, and after the game said Henderson was fortunate to escape serious injury on the play.
"I saw it was a really harsh challenge," Klopp told a news conference afterwards. "You saw it all, so I don't have to say anything about it this.
"I think Ross was lucky and Hendo is lucky. Nothing else happened."
Meanwhile, Everton boss Ronald Koeman admitted that Barkley's tackle perhaps warranted a dismissal, but voiced his frustration for the lack of cards that were shown to Liverpool players as a result of the scenes that followed.
Koeman was annoyed that the referee did not discipline Dejan Lovren, who had been booked earlier for a cynical foul on Romelu Lukaku.
"Maybe it's a red card [for Barkley] but what happened after is not a fair decision either," he said. "Yes, maybe it's red for Barkley, but it's the reaction of several players too -- also Coleman, but also Lovren and he already had yellow.
"He gave Coleman a yellow but nothing to Lovren. He could give Lovren his second and Coleman first, and maybe a red [for Barkley] but only Coleman, from the reaction of both teams, got a yellow so that is not fair."
The tackle and fracas afterward contributed to the eight minutes of second-half stoppage time, and Henderson said the three points were not easily won.
"It was a bit hectic and a bit wild," Henderson said. "We dealt with it well. We knew Everton would come at us from the off."