Arne Slot blasts 'STUPID' Hugo Ekitike as Liverpool boss left with major issue

Arne Slot was critical of Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike after his late red card for removing his shirt against Southampton. French forward Ekitike had replaced Alexander Isak at half-time, and after tapping home the winner with five minutes remaining he took off his shirt as he ran towards the corner flag.

Referee Thomas Bramall immediately showed Ekitike his second yellow, and the forward will now miss Liverpool's Premier League trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday. It leaves Slot with a headache, after the Dutchman admitted Isak is not ready to play 90 minutes.

Slot was far from impressed with his striker, branding his actions 'stupid'. "The first one (yellow card) was already needless and to a certain extent stupid because you have to control your emotions, and I know how hard it is if you play in the Premier League and you are a number nine then the defender can almost do everything he wants, and when you push him a little bit you get a free-kick against you," the Liverpool boss said.

READ MORE: Hugo Ekitike issues apology to Liverpool fans after red card in Southampton win

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"But it is always the best to control your emotions, and if you can't then do it in a way that doesn't lead to a yellow card. So I think I said when I got my red card against Everton that's always stupid because you can show your emotions but if it leads to a yellow or red then it's, to a certain extent, stupid.

"Then I told him that if you score in a Champions League final in the 87th minute after beating three players and hitting it in the top corner I can maybe understand you say 'it's all about me', but I'm old fashioned, I'm 47, I''m old, and I haven't played at this level but I did score a few goals, and if I scored a goal like this I would have turned around and walked up to Federico Chiesa and say 'this goal is all about you, this is not about me.'

"So yeah, needless, not smart, you call it stupid and I call it stupid."

It was an opinion mirrored by Ekitike's teammate Andy Robertson. The Scot skippered the Reds in Virgil van Dijk's absence and took a dim view of the Frenchman's exploits.

“I think scoring a goal is always emotional and you always get that emotion," he said. "But he's obviously just forgotten he's been booked."

"His first one is stupidity, kicking the ball away, we know the rules around that. Two silly bookings to pick up and now we miss him for Saturday.

"It's silly from his part but he's only young and he will learn from it. Happy that he scored but the last ten minutes were made a bit more difficult being down to ten men. He will learn from it and I am sure he won't do it again."

Ekitike took to Instagram after the game to apologise for his red card. He posted: "I was so excited tonight to help the team achieve another victory here in our home for my first Carabao Cup match... The emotion got the better of me tonight.

"My apologies to all the Red family, Thanks to the fans who always support as and to my teammates for secured this victory!"

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