Arne Slot confirmed Hugo Ekitike suffered a back injury during Liverpool’s 4-1 Champions League loss to PSV, adding to the team’s growing injury concerns.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed that striker Hugo Ekitike suffered a back injury during Wednesday night’s dismal 4-1 defeat to PSV in the Champions League.
The loss marks the Reds’ third straight defeat in all competitions and their ninth defeat in their last 12 games, according to a report from the Liverpool Echo.
Ekitike, a France international who signed for £79m from Eintracht Frankfurt in July, was one of two changes to the starting line-up, coming in for Alexander Isak.
He was withdrawn after the break, despite being “bright in the first half.” Slot later confirmed the forward was suffering a back spasm in his post-match press conference, telling TNT Sport the player was struggling to move.
Slot noted his observations during the game: “Especially at the start of the second half, I constantly felt: ‘What’s wrong with Hugo?'”
The coach added that the player’s movement was clearly hampered: “It felt as if he couldn’t move as he did [in] the first half. So, that’s why our press was, I think, also a little bit off.” Slot explained the reason for the substitution:
“And he just told me that in the first five to 10 minutes of the first half he already felt his back too much. That’s also why he had to go out.”
The defeat leaves Liverpool 13th in the Champions League standings. Ekitike would join a host of injured players, including goalkeeper Alisson Becker (illness), and defenders Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, and Giovanni Leoni, and midfielder Florian Wirtz on the sidelines ahead of a Premier League trip to West Ham United on Sunday.