Ekitike Injury Overshadows PSG's Victory at Anfield
Anfield fell silent long before the final whistle.
Liverpool were already chasing the tie when Hugo Ekitike’s night – and perhaps his season – ended with a chilling image: the in-form striker lying on the turf, clutching his lower leg, before being carried away on a stretcher as Paris Saint-Germain moved ruthlessly through to the Champions League semi-finals.
On the scoreboard it finished 2-0 to PSG on the night, 4-0 on aggregate. The real damage for Liverpool, though, may have come in the 27th minute.
Ekitike blow turns Anfield’s anxiety into dread
Up to that point, Arne Slot’s side had played with the urgency of a team who knew they needed something special to overturn a two-goal deficit. The Kop roared, Liverpool pressed, half-chances flickered.
Then Ekitike slipped.
There was no crunching tackle, no wild lunge. Just a simple movement on the Anfield turf, the French forward losing his footing and immediately reaching for the back of his right leg, clutching around the Achilles and ankle area. The noise inside the stadium changed in an instant.
Medical staff rushed on. Ekitike stayed down. Team-mates looked away.
Slot could only watch as his leading scorer this season, a player who has dragged Liverpool through a difficult campaign with 16 goals in all competitions, was treated on the pitch before being taken off on a stretcher.
“Not too good. I think we could all see that it didn't look well and didn't look good,” Slot told Amazon afterwards. Asked directly if it was an Achilles problem, he refused to speculate. “Let's wait and see what it will be. But we could all see it didn't look good. In the second half, he went home, so I haven't seen him yet.
“Losing a game is already very hard, especially in the way we lost it, but then again, as it seems to be, losing a player is something we've had so many times this season, but it's especially very hard for him, because you never wanna be injured, especially at this moment in the season.”
As Ekitike lay on the grass, several PSG players went over to him, some of them his France team-mates at international level. It was a small gesture on a brutal night.
Salah’s last Champions League bow for Liverpool
Mohamed Salah replaced Ekitike, thrown into the fray earlier than planned. The Egyptian had started on the bench but entered to a familiar roar for what was his final Champions League appearance in a Liverpool shirt.
It should have been a rousing twist in the story. Instead, it felt like a rescue mission with too many holes in the boat.
Alexander Isak, only just back in the starting XI, lasted just 45 minutes before being withdrawn at half-time. Another fitness worry. Another attacking pillar creaking at the wrong time.
Ibrahima Konate, speaking afterwards, could only express a sense of helplessness at the sight of yet another team-mate stricken.
“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,” the defender said, his words echoing the mood inside the dressing room.
Former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge, on punditry duty, cut straight to the emotional core of it.
“I am honestly so devastated for him,” he said on Amazon’s broadcast. “I can't imagine what his emotions are like right now, but it looks to be a bad one. Praying for him, of course. Moments like this are moments, as football players, you never wanna feel. I feel so sorry for him right now, it's a big shame.”
Dembele finishes the tie, PSG finish the job
While Liverpool struggled to reorganise and rediscover their rhythm, PSG waited for their moment. The tie had always favoured them; the injury seemed to drain what was left of Liverpool’s belief.
The pressure finally told late on. Ousmane Dembele, sharp and ruthless, struck twice at the Kop end to flatten what remained of the Anfield noise and seal a 2-0 win on the night. Any faint notion of a famous European comeback evaporated.
Liverpool’s Champions League campaign ended not with a furious late siege, but with a whimper and a wave of concern around their leading striker.
PSG marched on. Liverpool, out of every cup competition, were left to count the cost.
France fears and a Premier League race on a knife-edge
For Ekitike, the timing could hardly be worse. The World Cup is only months away. He has forced his way into the France setup, scoring in a 2-1 win over Brazil last month and becoming a regular option for Didier Deschamps.
Now his place on that plane hangs in the balance.
For Liverpool, the equation is just as stark. They sit fifth in the Premier League, four points clear of Chelsea in sixth. With the top five qualifying for next season’s Champions League, the target is clear. The path to it is anything but.
Six league games remain. Slot may have to navigate them without his 16-goal striker and with Isak far from fully fit.
The European lights are off for another year at Anfield. The question now is whether Liverpool can hold their nerve – and their health – long enough to make sure those lights are back on next season.
