Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike with head coach Arne Slot. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)placeholder image
Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike with head coach Arne Slot. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Hugo Ekitike scores on his Liverpool debut as the Reds were beaten on penalties by Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.
Arne Slot has explained why he substituted Hugo Ekitike in Liverpool’s Community Shield defeat.
The Reds suffered a penalty shootout loss at the hands of Crystal Palace in the 2025-26 season curtain-raiser at Wembley. The encounter between the Premier League champions Liverpool and FA Cup holders Palace ended a 2-2 draw but the Eagles held their nerve on spot-kicks with a 3-2 triumph.
While Liverpool were exposed defensively, they did impress on the front foot, with Ekitike making a dream debut. It took the £79 million signing from Eintracht Frankfurt inside four minutes to score when he curled a low shot into the far corner - having been assisted by £100 million record arrival Florian Wirtz.
Ekitike will be disappointed he didn’t increase his tally as spurned a gilt-edged chance wide inside the first minute of the second half, as well as failing to take another decent chance. The France under-21 international’s afternoon came to an end when he was replaced by Alexis Mac Allister in the 71st minute.
Liverpool head coach Slot said: “It is always nice to score a goal, not only for him but for Jeremie Frimpong if you start your career at a new club. But it would have been even nicer to win a game because that is more important than scoring. He had a good impact but is also an example of a player that came two weeks ago at the end of our Asian tour so, for me, with only four days before the Friday game it would not have been smart to play him 90 minutes. We have Federico but he has not been with us with the Asian tour.
“There is not a lot to replace him with, so if he gets an injury there would not be much to replace him with for Bournemouth, Newcastle and Arsenal so that's why I took him off but he had a good game, that's for sure.”
Liverpool did threaten aplenty in attack, with Ekitike and Wirtz impressing as well as Jeremie Frimpong, who bagged the second goal on his bow. However, the Reds have been vulnerable at the back throughout pre-season and were again in the Palace loss.
On the performance, Slot said: “The main issue, I don’t think there was a main one unless the other team misses two penalties and you lose within five that doesn’t help. It was a game where we twice came 1-0 up and, in my opinion, we controlled the game until the minute they came 2-2 and then all of a sudden, we could have lost it in the end, although we still had one big chance from Mo Salah. But until that moment, there was every reason for me to expect that we would win this game but after the 2-2 we were maybe lucky we could go to penalties.”
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