A devastating night for Liverpool at Anfield. Beyond the Champions League exit, the sight of Hugo Ekitike leaving the pitch in tears has left Arne Slot and the fans fearing the worst.
There was heartbreak in the first half of Liverpool’s second-leg clash with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, as Hugo Ekitike had to be stretchered off mid-way through the first 45 minutes with a serious-looking injury.
Arne Slot would have been looking for a clinical display from the former PSG marksman at Anfield, as his side attempted to pull off a monumental comeback against the Ligue 1 visitors.
Instead, with just 13 touches of the ball next to his name from 31 minutes of play, Ekitike had to be taken off, as he collapsed to the ground in pain when going after a through ball.
A stretcher was required for the 23-year-old, as he was replaced by Mohamed Salah, with Ekitike enduring a tough spell at Liverpool in recent times, having sat out the entirety of the 2-0 win in the Premier League against Fulham, as well.
Ekitike’s absence was sorely felt for the rest of the game, as the Merseyside giants crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stages, 4-0 on aggregate, even with Salah coming on, with Ousmane Dembele scoring PSG’s first of the night to break Reds hearts and shatter the belief they could pull off another Anfield comeback.
He then grabbed another late on to seal the visitors’ passage to the semi-final, where they will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.
Now, a prolonged stint on the sidelines could be heading Ekitike’s way, as the 17-goal attacker’s full situation is yet to be known.
A disappointed Slot offered an update during his post-match press conference on the injury-stricken striker, with Ekitike definitely set to miss Liverpool’s next Premier League encounter against Everton, having clutched his Achilles in pain.
Slot’s comments on Ekitike
The worry will be that the injury-prone striker will now miss the upcoming World Cup with France, with an Achilles tear, an extremely serious injury, if that is what he’s picked up.
Indeed, the usual time out with such a horrible knock is 7-9 months, as per Dr Rajpal Brar on X, with Liverpool fans praying that he won’t be in the Anfield treatment room for such an extensive period of time, as he has shone during his debut season on Merseyside.
With 17 goals next to his name, this isn’t a bad return for a star acclimatising to the demands of the English game, but he will have to become used to the treatment room, for the time being.
Slot was quizzed about Ekitike’s disastrous injury after his side’s drab 1-0 loss, with the Dutchman stating immediately post-match: “Not too good. I think we could all see that it didn’t look well and didn’t look good. Let’s wait and see what it will be. But we could all see it didn’t look good.
“In the second half he went home so I haven’t seen him yet. Losing a game is already very hard, especially in the way we lost it, but again – as it seems to be – losing a player is something we’ve had so many times this season.
“It’s especially very hard for him because you never want to be injured, especially not at this moment of time in the season.”
Stating that it will be “investigated” further during more post-match comments with BeanyManSports, all these discussions about the injury won’t immediately fill Liverpool fans with optimism.
With Alexander Isak only just back from a long-term injury layover himself, this is grim timing on the Reds’ end to have another high-profile striker casualty.
Ibrahima Konate also weighed in with his thoughts on Ekitike’s nightmare injury situation, after the 2-0 defeat, with his Liverpool teammate, and fellow French compatriot stating: “I think it is bad. I don’t know, I have heard many things, I have no word to talk about that because with the World Cup coming it is very, very hard for him and I send him my prayers.”
They’ll have to make do without the free-flowing Frenchman for the upcoming Merseyside Derby, with Slot angered at the fact that his team didn’t pick up a win against PSG tonight, heading into that feisty affair at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
When speaking on the 2-0 defeat, he said: “We got much more than we deserved last week, by only losing 2-0, but today we got much less than we deserved.
“In my opinion we should won but it’s also the quality of them that they don’t concede with all the chances we had, and the finishes of Ousmane Dembele, who showed why he won the Ballon d’Or.”
Liverpool were arguably more in the game than they were during the one-sided first leg, but only one side showed some major attacking prowess, and that was Luis Enrique’s visitors.
The Reds will need to offer a lot more in the attacking areas when playing in that hotly contested Derby, but without Ekitike at his disposal, Slot will be scratching his head as to who he should pick.
