Hugo Ekitike admitted his red card “was not smart” as he spoke about missing Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
The suspension followed two careless yellow cards in the Carabao Cup, which meant Ekitike was unavailable for the Premier League match against Crystal Palace. Arne Slot called the incident “needless” and “stupid,” highlighting how Ekitike lost control of his emotions after throwing the ball away and removing his shirt while celebrating.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League game against Galatasaray, Ekitike apologised again to his teammates.
“I think that was not smart,” he said. “I felt a bit disappointed to watch the boys from home on Saturday, but I apologised to everyone already, to all my teammates. That kind of thing won’t happen again, so I move on and I’m looking forward to playing and focusing on football.”
The 23-year-old is expected to start against Galatasaray in place of Alexander Isak, who featured for 84 minutes at the weekend, his longest game time since the end of last season.
On the possibility of partnering with Isak, Ekitike welcomed the idea and left tactical decisions to Slot. “I can’t see one big club playing with just one striker, so it is good that he is here,” he said.
“For my age, I still have a lot of things to improve and learn so, for me, it is good that he is here. That’s the coach to decide how he wants to play, not me, but I’ve been playing in two striker compositions and one striker, so I can do a lot of things. And if we have to play together, I can do that.”
