Hugo Ekitike injury update as Arne Slot speaks after star went off in tears | Football | Sport

Hugo Ekitike added to Liverpool‘s injury woes as the Reds lost 2-1 away at Brighton on Saturday afternoon. The French striker lasted only nine minutes after going down in discomfort following contact with former Liverpool midfielder James Milner. A limping Ekitike received treatment before trying to play on but went down again and had to be replaced by Curtis Jones.

The 23-year-old left the pitch in tears and headed straight down the tunnel. The centre-forward is now unlikely to play for France over the international break. Ekitike joins Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni on the treatment table. But his knock – which appears to be a thigh contusion – at least comes with a two-week break until Liverpool‘s next match, giving him some time to recover before his club return to action.

Arne Slot said post-match at Brighton: “The players and the fans know that there is only eight games to go to qualify for the Champions League and every game you have to miss is something you are upset about. Him going off and not being able to help the team – it is just a bit of bad luck.

“It is not like he will be out for three months but it is bad enough that he wasn’t able to continue. It was a blow for him and a blow for us.” The Dutchman declared that Ekitike has suffered a dead leg which will rule him out of representing his country but added that the player “could play tomorrow if he wanted to.”

Injury expert Physio Scout agrees and predicts that Ekitike will be out injured for approximately a week. They wrote: “Hugo Ekitike was forced off early with an upper-leg issue.

“The injury appeared to come after James Milner made contact with the outside of Ekitike’s hip, which commonly leads to a painful contusion/cork or hip pointer injury. These are often quite sore initially, but they usually settle fairly quickly. Expected recovery time: -1 week.”

Liverpool will desperately be hoping for only a short-term lay-off. Immediately after the international break they face Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals at the Etihad, before taking on Ekitike’s former club Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League days later.

The two legs of their quarter-final tie with PSG come either side of a Premier League game against Fulham at Anfield. And the weekend after the second leg against the French club at Anfield, Liverpool play Everton in the first ever Merseyside derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium the subsequent Sunday.

The defeat at Brighton, the Reds’ 10th in the Premier League this season after 31 games, is a gutting blow to Liverpool’s Champions League ambitions. They have now failed to win any of their last three league games – losing to Wolves and drawing with Tottenham before this.

As well as facing Fulham and Everton, Slot’s side also face Crystal Palace (H), Manchester United (A), Chelsea (H), Aston Villa (A) and Brentford (H) before the campaign concludes, as they seek to scrape a crucial top-five finish.