"Never bench him ever again", "Changed my life" - Fans hail Liverpool star for his performance in their 5-1 win over Frankfurt

Liverpool fans were impressed with Hugo Ekitike’s performance during their Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, October 22. The French forward marked his return to his former club with a goal as Arne Slot's side trounced Frankfurt 5-1 to end their four-game losing streak.

It wasn’t the kind of start the Reds would have wanted after Rasmus Kristensen put the hosts ahead against the run of play in the 26th minute. That seemed to awaken the visitors, who continued to crank up the pressure. After much probing, they eventually broke down Frankfurt’s defense in the 35th minute when Ekitike raced through on goal and slotted the ball past goalkeeper Michael Zetterer.

The game was turned on its head in the 39th minute when Virgil van Dijk headed home from Cody Gakpo’s corner and Ibrahima Konate added a third before the break. The Premier League champions continued their dominance in the second half, and a fourth goal seemed inevitable. Gakpo had the simplest of tasks to tap home Florian Wirtz’s low cross in the 66th minute. Dominik Szoboszlai added the cherry on top with a long-range strike four minutes later.

While Van Dijk was named Man of the Match, Ekitike also impressed on the night. The former Frankfurt forward had the most touches in the opposition box (7), won the most duels (5), recorded the most shots (3), had the most shots on target (2), and made the most tackles (2). After the match, fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to heap praise on him, with one writing:

“Never. Bench. Ekitike. Ever. Again.”

Another opined he might be the the Reds' best summer signing.

“Ekitike is a dangerous player, might be the best signing Liverpool made in the summer….,” they wrote. “Hugo Ekitike, I apologize I wasn’t familiar with your game,” another added. “Ekitike you’ve changed my life,” a fan chimed in. “Ekitike seem to be who LFC thought Isak was,” another remarked.

Hugo Eikitike’s goal saw him become the first player to score both for and against Frankfurt in a major European competition. The 23-year-old showed his respect for the club by not celebrating the goal.

Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike reaches goalscoring milestone after scoring against Frankfurt in UCL clash

Hugo Ekitike has now scored 50 career goals following his equalizer for Liverpool against Frankfurt. It was his sixth goal and his first in the Champions League for the Reds.

Liverpool is the fifth club Ekitike has played for in his professional career. His 50 goals are distributed as follows: Vejle BK (3), Stade Reims (11), Paris Saint-Germain (4), Eintracht Frankfurt (26), and Liverpool (6).

Edited by Ezekiel Olamide