Hugo Ekitike is expected to receive a hefty fine following his needless red card against Southampton earlier this week. The attacker picked up a second yellow card during the League Cup tie after netting what proved to be the winning goal at Anfield.
Ekitike was brought off the bench in the second half to replace fellow new arrival Alexander Isak, who had opened the scoring for Liverpool in the first half. Southampton had levelled things up to make it 1-1 before Ekitike netted in the 85th minute for the Premier League champions.
Unable to contain his joy, Ekitike removed his shirt in celebration, but having been booked earlier in the game, the former Paris Saint-Germain star was given his marching orders by the referee. A bizarre, and quite frankly senseless, act from the Liverpool attacker and one that garnered plenty of criticism from boss Arne Slot.
But it looks as if Ekitike’s actions are about to land him in even more trouble, with reports suggesting he could be about to lose a chunk of his salary. That’s according to The Daily Mail, who claim the most likely punishment for Ekitike will be two weeks’ wages.
Details surrounding Ekitike’s exact weekly wage aren’t well known, but it is rumoured he’s earning a whopping £250,000 per week following his move to the Merseyside outfit. As such, if the two-week fine does come to fruition, it could mean Ekitike’s foolish red card ends up costing him half-a-million pounds.
Slot questioned Ekitike’s mentality following the red card, saying: “I told him as well and I said it to numerous media already, if you score in a Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner, I can maybe understand that you’re like, ‘This is all about me, what did I do?’ But I am old fashioned, I’m 47 and old maybe.
“I haven’t played at this level but I did score a few goals and if I would have scored a goal like this, I would have turned around and walked up to, in this situation, Federico Chiesa and said, ‘This goal is all about you, this is not about me.’ So, yeah, needless, not smart. You call it stupid. I call it stupid, by the way, as well.”
Slot added: “But it’s always the best to control your emotions, and if you cannot control your emotions do it in a way that doesn’t lead to a yellow card. I think I said when I got my red card against Everton [last season], that is always stupid because you can show your emotions but if it leads to a yellow or a red card then it’s stupid. And that’s what happened in the first yellow.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk