Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts during the UEFA Champions League league phase football match between Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 26, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool's Dutch manager Arne Slot reacts during the UEFA Champions League league phase football match between Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 26, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool injury update on Hugo Ekitike after the 4-1 loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
Arne Slot revealed that Hugo Ekitike’s back injury was a reason behind Liverpool’s woeful second-half performance against PSV Eindhoven.
A 4-1 defeat by the Eredivisie champions has put Slot’s role as Reds head coach under increased pressure. Liverpool have lost nine of the previous 12 games in all competitions and their Premier League title defence is over before December. They sit 11 points behind leaders Arsenal.
The Reds had been OK in the first half against PSV in the Champions League. Ivan Perisic gave the visitors the lead from the penalty spot in the sixth minute but Dominik Szoboszlai equalised 10 minutes later.
Yet Liverpool’s performance in the second period was abysmal as they conceded three times and there was a smattering of boos at the full-time whistle. Slot feels that the Reds did not press PSV as intensely because Ekitike was not able to do so. Speaking to TNT Sport, the Liverpool boss said: “Especially at the start of the second half, I constantly felt, 'What's wrong with Hugo?' 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.
"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." Slot added at his post-match press conference: “He felt his back spasm.”
Liverpool turn their attention to a trip to West Ham United on Sunday but could well have depleted numbers with Ekitike now a possible doubt. No.1 goalkeeper Alisson Becker was ill against PSV so could not play. Meanwhile, Florian Wirtz missed a second match because of injury while Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong remain sidelined with respective hamstring problems. Giovanni Leoni won’t play for Liverpool again this term after rupturing his ACL.
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