Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike now finds himself suspended for Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Crystal Palace after he got two yellow card bookings versus Southampton last night. The first yellow came after he punched the ball away, 53 minutes in.
The second yellow (and thus the red) came when he over-celebrated the game-winning goal. Ekitike then took his shirt off and displayed his name and number to the Anfield crowd.
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Kick-off: Saturday Sept. 27, 3pm local, Selhurst Park, London, UK
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Reds boss Arne Slot called out Ekitike for overdoing it: “I’m old-fashioned, I’m 47 and old and I haven’t played at this level but I did score a few goals and if I had scored a goal like this I would have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa )who set Ekitike up on the goal) and said, ‘this goal is all about you, not about me’. So needless, not smart. You call it stupid, I call it stupid as well.”
Ekitike didn’t disagree, posting an apology wrote on Instagram: “I was so excited tonight to help the team achieve another victory here in our home for my first Carabao Cup match… The emotion got the better of me tonight. My apologies to all the Red family.”
There is one other team news item from Tuesday night- summer signing Giovanni Leoni, who made his Liverpool debut, played very impressively, but suffered an ACL tear. He had to be stretchered off after 81 minutes, and now faces a very long spell on the sidelines.
He may be done for the season, or close to it.
“For him, it didn’t feel good immediately, but this is something now we have to assess,” Slot said after the game.
“Normally, these things don’t happen in five to 10 minutes, and you have to wait… then maybe do an MRI scan to know more about how serious it is.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter