Arne Slot boosted by Liverpool display but fears serious Hugo Ekitike injury

By Simon Peach, Press Association Chief Football Writer

Arne Slot took positives from Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final exit to holders Paris St Germain but fears striker Hugo Ekitike has suffered a “really bad” injury.

The Reds came into the second leg with a mountain to climb having been thoroughly outclassed in last Wednesday’s first leg at the Parc des Princes, where the hosts’ dominance was not reflected by the 2-0 scoreline.

PSG’s missed opportunities allowed Anfield to dream of a famous comeback, but it was not to be as key interventions and a controversially overturned penalty frustrated a vastly improved Liverpool.

Ousmane Dembele’s second-half brace eventually sealed PSG’s 2-0 second-leg win and progress to the semi-finals with a 4-0 aggregate triumph, but Slot took hope from a night that saw Liverpool’s final route to silverware end.

“I think we made a lot of progression compared to last week,” the Liverpool boss said. “I have to give a lot of credit to the players, how hard they worked.

“I have to give a lot of credit to our fans, how they helped us tonight to execute our gameplan. If we have a high press, it’s so helpful if there are fans behind you, to keep on pushing you.

“Unfortunately, it’s one of the many examples of this season where we weren’t able to score from the many chances we had.

“Again, we were so far underperforming in terms of xG (expected goals), and that is just an ongoing thing with us throughout the whole season.

“Add to that, as it seems to be, a bad injury (to Ekitike). We don’t know for sure yet. Add to that another intervention of the VAR, which went not in our favour and that’s also not for the first time this season.

“Then, of course, we are very disappointed because I think there were parts in the second half where you could just feel if we can score now this is going to become a special night.

“But the future looks very bright for this team, because we’ve shown that we can compete with the champions of Europe in our stadium, to be the dominant team.

“Not many teams can be dominant against Paris St Germain and generate so many chances as we did. But, yeah, chances is one thing, scoring is a second.”

Liverpool’s attention turns from pushing for Champions League glory to ensuring they qualify for next season’s competition as their Premier League campaign resumes with Sunday’s derby at Everton.

Ekitike will miss that match and it seems a substantial period of time having gone down awkwardly in the first half, with the France international leaving on a stretcher amid fears he had suffered an Achilles injury.

“Hugo looks really bad but it’s difficult for me to say how bad,” Slot said. “Tomorrow we will investigate this further, (see) how bad this is for him. Let’s see. But it doesn’t look good.

“I didn’t see him at half-time and after the game he had already gone home so I haven’t spoken to him yet.”

Ekitike’s former club PSG have a semi-final against Bayern Munich or Real Madrid to prepare for as they bid to win back-to-back Champions League crowns.

Head coach Luis Enrique said: “Two really good teams, Liverpool played a fantastic game, a lot of intensity.

“There were a few moments where we had the upper hand. Things got even tougher for us in the second half but we showed what kind of team we are.

“It was a wonderful quarter-final of the Champions League and great to come through and qualify for the semi-finals.”