The last thing we wanted after the Brighton defeat was more bad news on the injury front, so this latest update on Hugo Ekitike will come as a major relief for us ahead of a huge run of fixtures.
Speaking in its match report, BBC Sport confirmed that the France international not only featured against Brazil on international duty, but also got himself on the scoresheet in an impressive win.
After being forced off early against Brighton and leaving the pitch in tears, there was understandable concern around the 22-year-old’s condition, especially given how badly his withdrawal disrupted our shape on the south coast.
But the latest evidence suggests that issue really was only minor.
Describing the key moment in the game, BBC Sport reported: “But, despite having one man less, Didier Deschamps’ France doubled their lead through Hugo Ekitike’s close-range chipped effort in the 65th minute.”
That’s exactly the kind of update we needed.
Not only was the Frenchman fit enough to play, he also looked sharp enough to make an impact at international level, which should calm plenty of nerves back on Merseyside.
That matters because our No.22 has quickly become one of the most important pieces in Arne Slot’s attack, particularly with other injury concerns already stretching the squad.
Fresh footage had already shown the former Bundesliga forward arriving with the France squad without any obvious discomfort, and now he has gone one step further by scoring.
It also continues a strong spell for the striker, who has been carrying real attacking threat for us in recent weeks and looked central to the structure we were building before the Brighton game was thrown off course.
Even in lighter moments off the pitch, the Frenchman has looked settled, with Ekitike among the Liverpool players joking in the comments after Alexis Mac Allister’s dramatic haircut reveal, which says plenty about how quickly he has integrated into the group.
More importantly, though, this is football evidence rather than social media evidence.
Ekitike is fit, he is scoring, and with Manchester City, PSG and Fulham all coming up after the international break, that is a very welcome boost for us.
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