The former England international struck in the 77th minute after Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren pushed young striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin to the floor in the box.
Liverpool were incensed by the award of the penalty, though Rooney was simply trying to gather himself as he looked to convert only the second spot kick Everton have been awarded at Anfield since 1937 to score his first goal in a Merseyside derby.
‘Dejan Lovren kicked the ball away, so I walked over to get it,’ Rooney explained post-match. ‘I was just trying to compose myself. All I kept thinking was “you can’t miss this penalty… you just can’t!”; it was such a big moment in the game. I was delighted with it.’
Rooney duly converted from the spot, smashing the ball straight down the middle to earn Sam Allardyce's side a share of the spoils.
Liverpool had the better of the game at Anfield and felt robbed by the result, not that Rooney cared, with the striker saying that the 'Toffees' deserved the point for sticking to their game plan.
‘We stuck to our game plan,’ he said. ‘We were organised and we did it well. We nicked the draw in the end. We deserved the point. It is easy to go away from a game plan when you are 1-0 down but we knew at 1-0 there was always a chance.
‘We stuck to it and thankfully we got the penalty, the goal and we saw it out to get the draw.’