Liverpool have suffered an early Champions League set-back after Hugo Ekitike was forced off with an injury during their second-leg clash with PSG
20:38, 14 Apr 2026Updated 20:51, 14 Apr 2026
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Liverpool suffered an early set-back during their Champions League clash with PSG after Hugo Ekitike was forced off with an injury.
The Reds faced mission almost-impossible on Tuesday evening as they welcomed PSG to Anfield while being two goals down after the reverse fixture. Arne Slot had the chance to deploy his full attacking power, but suffered a set-back in the opening 30 minutes.
French international Hugo Ekitike went down off the ball, prompting concerned team-mates to rush across. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Stephen Warnock said: "There was nobody around Hugo Ekitike and he has damaged his ankle.
"He is pointing towards his Achilles which is a real concern. He got back up, and he just collapsed to the floor. Marquinhos had hold of his hand, and he is in agony."
He was replaced by Mohamed Salah, who had been snubbed from the starting line-up by Slot in what could be his final Champions League outing for the Reds.
Jamie Carragher, speaking on CBS Sports, was stunned by the decision to drop Salah: “I can't believe it, that he [Salah] is not playing. I can't understand why. The manager will have his reasons, but Isak is nowhere near fit.
“Mo Salah didn't play in the first leg, so he's not like some of the players who played last week and then played at the weekend in the Premier League.
"He played in the Premier League, he scored a goal, he's still one of Liverpool, probably Liverpool's best goalscorer. He's used to this system; Isak's never really played at with Ekitike before.
"Now I don't think Arne Slot's the type of manager who would almost be thinking: 'I remember what you did to me a few months ago when you called me out publicly.'
"Certain managers in the past, I can think of maybe Alex Ferguson... I don't think Arne Slot would, but is it because he's already announced he's leaving?
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"And it's something like: 'I'm almost going with the players who are going to be here in the next year.'
"I don't know, it's the only thing I can think of, but even that doesn't make sense, because it's about the here and now, so I'm flabbergasted Mo Salah's not playing."