Arne Slott described Ekitike’s injury as “really bad” after he was carried off on a stretcher during Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Ekitike suffered what appeared to be a serious lower leg injury 30 minutes before kick-off at Anfield on a night when Alexander Isak made a surprise start after a long layoff.
The forward fell onto the grass with no one nearby, clutching his right ankle area and showed visible pain until he was surrounded by teammates and treated.
He was then taken off the field on a stretcher and replaced by Mohamed Salah, but Slott suggested the injury was “not good” amid concerns about an Achilles injury.
“He’s not doing well. Everyone could see that he wasn’t doing well. I haven’t seen him yet because he went home in the second half,” Slott told Amazon Prime.
“It’s tough to lose a game, but to also lose a player, which we’ve had many times this season, is very tough for him at this stage of the season.”
This doesn’t look good. The child is distraught.
Tim Sherwood talks about soccer special
In the post-match press conference, Slott added: “It looks really bad, but it’s hard to say how bad it is. Tomorrow we’ll look further into how bad this is for him.”
“Let’s take a look. But it’s obvious it doesn’t look good.”
Ekitike has scored 19 goals for Liverpool and France this season and is likely to feature at this summer’s World Cup if conditions are right.
Ibrahima Konate said: “I feel very sorry for him. I don’t think it’s good.
“I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot of things, but I don’t want to talk about it, because with the World Cup and everything that’s going to happen this summer, it’s a very difficult situation for him at the moment. I’m sending him prayers and everything.”
Liverpool’s performance revitalizes the slot slot
Slott, on the other hand, viewed Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final defeat as a positive.
The Reds were soundly defeated in last Wednesday’s first leg at the Parc des Princes, but the 2-0 scoreline did not reflect the holders’ superiority and they went into the second leg with a mountain to climb.
PSG’s missed chances allowed Anfield to dream of a famous comeback, but that didn’t come true as a key intervention and a controversial penalty were overturned to frustrate a much-improved Liverpool.
Ousmane Dembele’s brace in the second half ultimately saw PSG win the second leg 2-0 and advance to the semi-finals with a 4-0 aggregate win, but Slott took hope from the night Liverpool’s final route to silver came to an end.
Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring against Liverpool
“We have made a lot of progress compared to last week,” the Liverpool manager said. “I have to give a lot of credit to the players for how hard they worked.
“I have to give a big thank you to our fans for how much they helped us execute our game plan tonight. When we’re pressing high, it helps a lot to have the fans behind us and keep pushing.”
“Unfortunately, this is one of the many examples this season where we didn’t score from the many chances we had.
“Again, we have underperformed in terms of xG (expected goals) so far, but that’s something that has continued to happen to us throughout the season.
“On top of that, it seems like a bad injury[for Ekitike]. We don’t know for sure yet. On top of that, there was also the intervention of VAR, which was not in our favor and it wasn’t the first time this season either.”
“Obviously we are very disappointed, because there were parts in the second half that made us think it would have been a special night if we had scored. But the future of this team is very bright because we showed that we can compete against European champions in this stadium and be a dominant team.”
“There are not many teams that can dominate against Paris Saint-Germain and create as many chances as we do. But yes, chances and goals are secondary.”
As the Premier League resumes with a derby against Everton on Sunday, Liverpool’s focus has shifted from challenging for Champions League glory to securing qualification for next season’s competition. It will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
Sunday, April 19th 1:00 p.m.
Kickoff at 2pm
“Slot needs to qualify for the Champions League to keep his job.”
Tim Sherwood talks about Sky Sports:
“Liverpool were the better team tonight.
“I still think it was a penalty[for Liverpool]. There was contact on the back of his foot. He had every right to go down with that contact.”
“If they play like that, 100 per cent they will qualify for the Champions League.
“We lost this draw in the first leg. Why didn’t they go over there and give it a try?”
“Arne Slott needs to qualify for the Champions League to keep his job.
“But he must be encouraged by his performance in the second half.”
