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Journalism of Courage
Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitike has apologised to fans of the club after he received a red card for taking off his shirt while celebrating in an English League Cup match against Southampton on Tuesday. The Frenchman was already on a yellow card when he had second goal of the match in the 85th minute which gave Liverpool a 2-1 lead. More importantly for Liverpool, Ekitike is also suspended as a result for their Saturday Premier League match against Crystal Palace away from home.
“The emotion got the better of me tonight. My apologies to all the Red family,” he posted on Instagram after the game. The 23-year-old forward had already been shown a yellow card for dissent after coming on as a halftime substitute.
“Needless? Yes. And it was stupid. The first one was already needless and to a certain extent, stupid, as you have got to control your emotions,” Slot said. “I told him that if you score in the Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner I can maybe understand. He is like, This is all about me, what did I do’.
“But I am old-fashioned, I’m 47 and old. I never played at this level, but did score a few goals and if I scored a goal like this, I’d have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa and said, This goal is all about you, this is not about me.'” Ekitike’s latest goal was his fifth in eight games for Liverpool after joining the Premier League champion from Eintracht Frankfurt for $93.5 million in July.
Liverpool had led through British record signing Alexander Isak’s first goal for the club since his British record $170 million deadline day move from Newcastle. But Southampton — 19th in the Championship — leveled in the 76th through Shea Charles. With thoughts turning to a shootout, Liverpool produced another late rescue act — scoring a winner in the final 10 minutes for the sixth time this season.
