Hugo Ekitike enjoyed a memorable return to Eintracht Frankfurt last night, scoring the first of Liverpool\u2019s five goals in a commanding win at Deutsche Bank Park. The French forward brought the Reds level in the 35th minute after Rasmus Kristensen\u2019s opener, controlling a superb long pass from Andy Robertson before calmly finishing past Michael Zetterer.<\/p>\n
Out of respect for his former club, the 23-year-old chose not to celebrate and received warm applause from the Frankfurt supporters when he was substituted with just over 15 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
What did Ekitike do after the match?
\nHaving played alongside most of the current Eintracht squad, Ekitike\u2019s post-match gesture reflected the bonds he still shares with the German side. Journalist Lewis Steele posted a clip on X showing the Liverpool striker briefly joining Frankfurt players on their subdued lap of appreciation for the fans who stayed behind after full-time.<\/p>\n
Ekitike reminds Frankfurt of what they\u2019ve lost
\nWhile Eintracht have found the net freely this season \u2014 Kristensen\u2019s strike being their 31st in 11 games \u2014 Ekitike\u2019s performance highlighted exactly what they\u2019ve been missing since his departure.<\/p>\n
Handed a recall to Arne Slot\u2019s starting XI, he justified the decision with a complete display. According to Sofascore, Ekitike misplaced only two passes, won five of seven duels, completed two of three dribbles, and registered two shots on target, constantly troubling the hosts\u2019 defence.<\/p>\n
Even if Alexander Isak\u2019s groin issue proves minor, Ekitike\u2019s performance in Frankfurt makes him the strong favourite to start against Brentford on Saturday. His composed finish and all-round showing served as a timely reminder to his old club \u2014 and further cemented his growing reputation among Liverpool fans and pundits alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hugo Ekitike enjoyed a memorable return to Eintracht Frankfurt last night, scoring the first of Liverpool\u2019s five goals in a commanding win at Deutsche Bank Park. The French forward brought the Reds level in the 35th minute after Rasmus Kristensen\u2019s opener, controlling a superb long pass from Andy Robertson before calmly finishing past Michael Zetterer. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":52717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ekitike-koch-768x431.jpg.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52718,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52716\/revisions\/52718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}