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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has criticized Huko Ekitike over his 'stupid' action that him receive sent off against Southampton. The France international scored the winner in the dying stages to hand the Reds a 2-1 win in their Carabao Cup clash, sending them to the fourth round of the competition.
Slot interacted with the media after the match, pointing out that he was surprised by Ekitike's negligence in getting a second yellow card in the match. He told that he did not expect Ekitike to celebrate as he did, particularly seeing as he only scored a tap-in after good work by Federico Chiesa.
"I didn’t understand it. Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned and a bit old school, but if I scored a goal after going past three men and hit it in the top corner, I would have maybe celebrated completely by myself. But if I got an assist like that one from Federico Chiesa, I probably would have turned around and pointed at him like “yeah you have made this whole goal for me”. So that’s why I was a little bit surprised that is how he celebrated. And even worse, took his shirt off and got his second yellow.
Not just because it was a second yellow but it always stupid to take your shirt off and take a yellow because if this happens somewhere in the game every time you make a foul it could be a second yellow. I think if you score a goal like this, I would have gone to the guy who made the assist, but that is not so important, it’s stupid to take your shirt off", he said.
Former Eintracht Frankfurt player Ekitike came off the bench at halftime for ALexander Isak, who scored the opener for Liverpool in the first half. The young striker received a booking for throwing the ball away in dissent within 15 minutes of his introduction. He then received his maching orders after a second yellow card for taking off his jersey after scoring the winner.
Hugo Ekitike will miss Liverpool's league match against Crystal Palace this weekend as an outcome of his sending off at Anfield. The Frenchman has started all of the Reds' leagues games so far this season, scoring three goals and giving an assist.
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