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Hugo Ekitike embraces life at Liverpool
The French striker has quickly underlined his reputation, and also won over the fans with his Jota tribute
Mumbai: In his moment of celebration, Hugo Ekitike endeared himself to the Liverpool faithful at Anfield on Saturday.
A give-and-take move with Alexis Mac Allister saw the tall Frenchman storm into the Bournemouth box before calmly slotting home the first goal of the season for the defending champions in his Premier League debut. The festivities began near the corner flag, but just before he trotted back to the halfway line for the restart, Ekitike gestured the number 20 with his hands – the jersey number of the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota.
All the opening weekend’s Premier League matches started with a minute’s silence to pay tribute to Jota, who died in a car crash in July while returning for pre-season training, weeks after helping the team win a joint-record 20th league title.
On an emotional day at Anfield where tributes poured in for the Portuguese – there was standing ovation from the crowd in the 20th minute of play – Ekitike’s gesture was the first evidence that the £70 million signing from Eintracht Frankfurt had truly embraced his new club.
The highly rated 23-year-old forward also put in a stand-out performance in the 4-2 win that will give manager Arne Slot a big confidence boost having spent heavily to assemble a team with many new faces.
Churn in Liverpool
Over the summer transfer window, the Reds saw the departures of long-time wing-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, temperamental striker Darwin Nunez, and hard-working forward Luis Diaz. If Slot is to lead his team to their first successful title defence in 41 years, he’d have to do it with a lot of fresh faces.
On the night, Liverpool became the first reigning English champions (excluding the inaugural 1992-93 season) to field four Premier League debutants in the starting line-up of their season opener. Along with Ekitike were midfielder Florian Wirtz and full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.
But it was Ekitike who showed the most promise.
Even before he scored the opener, he was a bundle of energy, wreaking havoc in the Bournemouth defence with his off-the-ball movement, runs into the box and link-up play. He also turned provider, making the assist for Cody Gakpo’s goal that made it 2-0 for the Reds.
While the attacking display was impressive, the champions’ defensive frailties were once again exposed.
Frimpong and Kerkez joining the attack, along with the absence of the suspended Ryan Gravenberch, left a hole in the midfield.
It nearly resulted in Liverpool conceding an early goal when, in the seventh minute, Antoine Semenyo blazed a half-volley over the bar. Semenyo, however, slotted home a cross from David Brooks later. And then in the 76th minute, he sprinted unchallenged for 50 yards with the ball before hammering the equaliser with a shot placed between centre backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate and away from a diving Alisson Becker.
Liverpool had to wait till the 88th minute to restore the lead through Federico Chiesa’s first goal for the club, before Mohamed Salah made it 4-2 in the 94th minute.
City’s Reijnders dazzles
There were a number of impressive debuts in other clubs. Manchester City’s Tijjani Reijnders stood out with a goal and assist in his team’s 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Having ended 15th last season, Manchester United, despite a 1-0 loss to Arsenal at home, will be optimistic after an impressive show by new recruits Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo.
In the opening weekend of the 38-week Premier League season, Ekitike provided his manager relief, as well as a potential problem of plenty.
Liverpool are still reportedly tracking wantaway Newcastle United star Alexander Isak. Should the Swede make the switch to Liverpool, Slot will have at his disposal a striker who scored 23 goals and had six assists last term.
However, with the way Ekitike has hit the ground running in the Liverpool shirt – he also scored in the Community Shield loss against Crystal Palace – the Frenchman has made a strong case for being the team’s first-choice striker.
