Hugo Ekitike has been ruled out of this summer’s World Cup after pulling up with an injury on Tuesday night, according to reports in France.
The 23-year-old French striker went down off the ball 30 minutes into Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second leg match against Paris Saint-Germain, and was taken off on a stretcher.
Ekitike won his first cap for France last September and was expected to be part of Didier Deschamps’ squad for this summer’s World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. He will undergo tests on Wednesday which is expected to confirm a ruptured Achilles tendon, reported RMC Sport.
‘Hugo looks really bad but it is difficult to say how bad,’ Slot said after the game.
‘Let’s see. It doesn’t look good, that is clear. I didn’t see him at half-time and after the game he was already home. I have not spoken to him yet.’
Ekitike joined Liverpool from Eintracht Frankfurt for £79million last summer and has been one of the side’s prevailing lights amid a difficult season, scoring 17 goals in 45 games in all competitions.
Ekitike will undergo tests on Wednesday which is expected to confirm a ruptured Achilles tendon, according to reports in France
The 23-year-old striker went down off the ball 30 minutes into Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second leg match against Paris Saint-Germain, and was taken off on a stretcher.
Liverpool were dumped out of the Champions League by the Paris outfit on Tuesday night courtesy of Ousmane Dembele’s brace, confirming Arne Slot’s side will end their season trophy-less.
The Reds are still well in the fight for qualifying for the competition next season though, sitting in fifth in the top flight.
And Ekitike will be a sore miss in the run-in if this is the case, given he is their top scorer in the Premier League this season with 11 goals (seventh overall).
Slot’s side must still visit Manchester United, host Chelsea and travel to Aston Villa before the season’s end.
Ekitike’s club and international team-mate Ibrahima Konate told Amazon Prime after the match: ‘I think it is bad. I don’t know, I have heard many things, I have no word to talk about that because with the World Cup coming it is very, very hard for him and I send him my prayers.’
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