Liverpool boss Arne Slot has explained his reasoning for taking off Hugo Ekitike before full time in Sunday's Community Shield loss to Crystal Palace.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt and Paris Saint-Germain striker took little time to make his mark on the Wembley turf, breaking the deadlock just four minutes in with a fine low finish into the corner.
However, Ekitike's efforts were for nought as the Premier League champions were defeated 3-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the English football curtain-raiser, having blown two leads in normal time.
Despite being Liverpool's only recognised centre-forward following the £46m sale of Darwin Nunez to Al-Hilal, Ekitike was taken off after 71 minutes on Sunday afternoon, being replaced by Alexis Mac Allister as Slot shifted to a more defensive setup.
Speaking to reporters in his post-game press conference, Slot revealed that he withdrew the Frenchman early in order to avoid the risk of an injury ahead of the Premier League season starting, saying: "He had a good impact but he is also an example of a player who came, I think, one-and-a-half to two weeks ago, at the end of our Asian tour.
Slot explains early Ekitike sub in Community Shield defeat
Liverpool manager Arne Slot pictured on August 4, 2025
"So for me, with only three or four days before the Friday game, it wouldn’t be smart to play him for 90 minutes because… of course we have Federico [Chiesa] but he has not been on the Asian tour as well, so there’s not a lot to replace him with.
"So, if he gets an injury at this moment of time, that would be a big risk for the Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal games. That’s why I took him off but he had a good game today, that’s for sure."
The joy from Ekitike's early opener was quickly extinguished at Wembley, as Virgil van Dijk's trip on Ismaila Sarr offered Jean-Philippe Mateta the chance to level matters from the spot, which he did with aplomb.
Ekitike's fellow new signing Jeremie Frimpong restored the Reds' lead with a freakish cross-cum-shot in the 20th minute - while the crowd were paying tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva - but Sarr exposed disjointed defending from Liverpool to draw Palace level again.
Mohamed Salah, Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott were then guilty of fluffing their lines from 12 yards in the shootout defeat, and Slot conceded that his players were perhaps fortunate not to have lost the game in normal time.
Slot admits Liverpool were "lucky" to get to penalties in Community Shield
Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi lifts the Community Shield on August 10, 2025
"The main issue, I don’t think there was a main issue unless if the other team misses two penalties and you still lose within five penalties, that of course doesn’t help," the Dutchman added.
"But I think in general, it was a game where we twice came one goal up and, in my opinion, we controlled the game until the moment they scored the 2-2. Then, all of a sudden, although we still had one big chance for Mo Salah, we could have lost it in the end as well.
"But until that moment, [at] 2-1, there was every reason for me to expect that we would win this game. But after the 2-2 we were maybe lucky that we could go to penalties."
Liverpool - who were also missing Ryan Gravenberch on Sunday due to the birth of his child - now have four full days to recover before kicking off their Premier League title defence against Bournemouth at Anfield on Friday night.
There was one silver lining for one Reds player at Wembley, though, as Curtis Jones set a unique Community Shield record.
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