Liverpool’s dejection at exiting the Champions League tonight by an injury to Hugo Ekitike which looked worrying on first viewing and could now turn out to be even more serious than initially feared.
Just before the half-hour mark, the Frenchman went to ground with nobody near him and appeared to be in considerable distress as he was removed from the pitch on a stretcher, with Mo Salah coming on in his place.
Stephen Warnock observed that the 23-year-old was ‘in agony’ when he fell to the turf, and a subsequent verdict from a qualified medical practitioner makes for very grim reading.
Dr Rajpal Brar, a sports scientist and Doctor of Physical Therapy, took to X shortly after Ekitike’s injury blow with a very worrying assessment of the body blow to the Liverpool striker.
He posted: ‘Unfortunately, Ekitike’s injury looks like the prototypical Achilles rupture push-off mechanism (see pic). Looking at 7-9 month return to sport for elite footballers; longer return to pre-injury levels.’
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If Dr Brar’s initial assessment proves to be accurate, it’d be extremely cruel on the French centre-forward, who now looks set to miss out on representing his country at the World Cup over the summer.
The medical expert’s projected injury timeline would indicate that Ekitike mightn’t even play again in 2026, if indeed he’s sidelined for the next nine months, and that’d deprive Liverpool of their most potent attacking option.
Alexander Isak has only just returned from his own lengthy layoff with a broken leg, and tonight has proven to be an all too rare opportunity for the two strikers to play together, with the double act broken up after less than half an hour.
It should become clearer over the next few days just how long we can expect the Reds’ number 22 to be ruled out for, but with Arne Slot saying after the match that the outlook is ‘not good’, we can probably expect the forward to be sidelined for a significant length of time.
Everyone at Empire of the Kop wishes Ekitike as swift a recovery as possible, and our thoughts are with the Frenchman after that devastating injury blow.
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