Hugo Ekitike is set to be sidelined for at least nine months after suffering a serious Achilles injury during Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Liverpool’s final chance of silverware ended on Tuesday as PSG secured a 4-0 aggregate win at Anfield to reach the semi-finals.
Concern quickly shifted to Ekitike, who was stretchered off in the first half. The striker went down unchallenged after 34 minutes, clutching his ankle in visible pain, and was unable to continue despite treatment.
Arne Slot admitted the injury looked “not good” after the match, while Ibrahima Konaté also feared the worst.
Speaking post-match about the injury, head coach Slot told Amazon Prime Video: “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.”
Konate added: “I’m very sad for him. To be fair, I think it’s bad. I don’t want to talk about that, with a World Cup coming it’s very, very hard for him at the moment. I send him my prayers.”
Although Liverpool have yet to confirm the diagnosis, L’Equipe report that Ekitike has ruptured his Achilles tendon, with a recovery timeline of around nine months – potentially ruling him out of France’s World Cup campaign this summer.
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