The Frenchman received his first yellow card of the afternoon, eight minutes after replacing Alexander Isak at the half-time interval, for punching the ball away when Thomas Bramall blew for a Southampton free-kick. The forward received his second yellow card after he scored a tap-in following a pass from Federico Chiesa’s cross in the 85th minute to restore Liverpool’s lead before he took his shirt off while celebrating in front of the Anfield crowd.
He was sent off after being given his second yellow card of the evening and will miss Saturday’s fixture against an unbeaten Crystal Palace side.
Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot, expressed his displeasure during his post-match interview, where he blasted Hugo Ekitike, calling the red card incident a stupid one.
He said,
“Needless? Yes. And it was stupid. The first one was already needless and, to a certain extent, stupid, as you have to control your emotions. I told him that if you score in the Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner I can maybe understand. He is like, ‘This is all about me, what did I do’.
He also spoke about giving credit to Federico Chiesa who made it possible for him to score.
He continued,
“But I am old-fashioned, I’m 47 and old. I never played at this level but did score a few goals and if I scored a goal like this, I’d have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa and said, this goal is all about you, this is not about me. Always best to control your emotions. If you can’t, do it in a way that doesn’t lead to a yellow card.”
Ekitike has also apologised to Liverpool supporters via his official Instagram page.
He said,
:I was so excited tonight to help the team achieve another victory here in our home for my first Carabao Cup match… The emotion got the better of me tonight. My apologies to all the Red family.”
This incident indicates that Alexander Isak will have a chance to play his first Premier League game for Liverpool when they face an unbeaten Crystal Palace.
