Claims made by Southampton boss Will Still suggests the shirt-waving antics that led to Hugo Ekitike’s red card for Liverpool on Tuesday evening may have been part of a badly thought-through pre-match promise to the Saints manager.
The French striker has made a huge impact for the Reds since joining in a £79m (€90m, $105m) move from Eintracht Frankfurt, getting his name on the scoresheet five times in eight games so far. While some may have questioned the wisdom of Liverpool spending such lavish sums on the 22-year-old, his form since moving to Anfield makes him already look like an extremely astute signing.
However, Ekitike severely blotted his copybook on Tuesday night when he picked up one of the most needless red cards in history, receiving his second caution of the night for taking off his shirt and holding it aloft before the crowd, having stepped off the bench to score what proved the winning goal of the Carabao Cup tie at Southampton.
That action will cost the French striker a one-game suspension, ruling him out of Saturday’s trip to face in-form Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
While boss Arne Slot and supporters were left up in arms at the striker’s actions, a new theory has emerged as to why Ekitike – booked in the first instance for punching the ball away in an act of petulance – went on to receive his second yellow.
And it all seems to have stemmed from a promise made to Southampton boss Still.
“Hugo cracks me up, he’s a funny lad,” Still explained to the media.
“We just caught up before the game, and he said he’d come on and score and then give me his shirt and bugger off, which is exactly what he’s done.
“So, yeah, fair play to him. We sold him to PSG for €50 million, so we knew he’s got a bit about him, and he scored a lot of goals for us as well.
“He’s a constant threat, and he’s incredibly annoying to play against. So yeah, fair play to him.”
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To put the pair’s relationship into context, Still was the assistant manager at Ekitike’s first club, Reims, where the young striker played for and made his name with prior to his move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Since those days, the pair have kept in contact and retained a friendship, with both their careers having gone on to bigger heights since their time together at the Stade Auguste-Delaune.
So it seems Ekitike’s actions were as a result to a pre-match promise made to Still; sadly for the striker, he’s either forgotten he was on a caution or maybe more unforgivably, not realise his shirt-waving antics would lead to a second caution.
Captain for the night, Andy Robertson, refused to condemn the player, telling Sky Sports: “I’d be very surprised if he does it again.
“I think scoring a goal is always emotional and you always get that emotion. But he’s obviously just forgotten he’s been booked.
“His first one is stupidity, kicking the ball away, we know the rules around that. Two silly bookings to pick up and now we miss him for Saturday.
“It’s silly on his part, but he’s only young and he will learn from it. Happy that he scored but the last ten minutes were made a bit more difficult being down to ten men. He will learn from it and I am sure he won’t do it again.”
In an Instagram story, Ekitike tried to defend his actions, stating: “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. Thanks to the fans who always support us and to my teammates for securing the victory. #Reds.”
However, the dismissal clearly did not go down well with Slot, who could not even look the player in the eye as the striker walked down the tunnel.
“Needless? Yes. And it was stupid. The first one was already needless and to a certain extent, stupid, as you have got 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’.
“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’.
“It’s always best to control your emotions. If you can’t, do it in a way that doesn’t lead to a yellow card.”
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