Liverpool

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Liverpool have confirmed Hugo Ekitike has ruptured of his Achilles tendon.

The club say he will miss the rest of the season and World Cup, with "further updates" to come at "an appropriate time"., external

French football journalist Julien Laurens told BBC Sport: "If they go and sign another forward, then when Ekitike comes back they might have a problem with too many options, but they might have to because if he is out for at least nine months - if it is a full rupture - then they will need something else for next season."

Writing on Instagram, Ekitike said: "It's hard, maybe even unfair… but I'm grateful this is happening to me here, among you. I'm not alone. Your strength and your love will be my driving force. See you again soon, Anfield."

We asked how you feel about the news and for your thoughts on whether Liverpool now need to buy a striker as a result.

Here are some of your comments:

Stephen: Shame about Hugo but he's looked spent these past two months and clearly has been overplayed. Injuries follow when that happens. The forward line needed reinforcing as Salah departs, with Rio still developing and Isak being injury prone. FSG won't outlay like they did last summer so we will probably have to make do. That transition season continues into next for LFC fans. Buckle in for the ride.

Mark: Absolutely gutted for him as a player. So young, to be missing out on the World Cup and I'm worried for Liverpool. Very rare they come back to be the same player again after this injury. Sad.

Alfie: I think we may have to sign another striker. Doesn't have to be a world-class striker. Just someone that will do the trick in Ekitike's absence. Isak is touch and go at the minute so we can't rush him back.

James: Ekitike will be a big miss but if it results in Isak hitting some form, or Gakpo playing through the centre, it may mean someone like Rio will get a bit more of a run out so it could benefit the team ultimately.

Sonny: It's going to sound crazy, but bring in Darwin for a six-month loan until January, when Hugo will likely return. He knows the fans and the club, everybody loved him when he was here, and he can chip in with the odd goal. He never gets a game for Al-Hilal, so I'm sure he would be up for it. We cannot go into next season with only an injury prone Alexander Isak.

Tom: I think that Liverpool should buy a striker who is a a bit more low profile and happy to sit on the bench and come on.

Hugo Ekitike will miss the remainder of the season, the World Cup and likely part of the next campaign.

How do you feel about the news? Will Liverpool need to buy a striker as a result, or is there adequate cover?

Get in touch with your views here

Liverpool are leading the race for 28-year-old Bournemouth and Argentina defender Marcos Senesi, who is out of contract this summer. (i paper, external)

Meanwhile the Reds are interested in Newcastle's England winger Anthony Gordon, 25, and Everton and Senegal forward Iliman Ndiaye, 26, as they seek to bolster their attacking options for next season. (Teamtalk, external)

Juventus are keeping tabs on Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, as they look to to overhaul their squad in the summer. (Corriere dello Sport - in Italian, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

On the 37th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, players, staff and club officials of Liverpool Football Club have been at Anfield to lay wreaths and pay tribute to the 97 fans who lost their lives.

The club will observe a period of silence at 15:06 BST - the time at which Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in 1989 was stopped.

After the silence, 97 biodegradable balloons will be released from the centre circle at Anfield.

Tributes also took place before Tuesday's Champions League tie against Paris St-Germain, including a period of silence before kick-off, players wearing black armbands and a mosaic formed on the Kop.

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile, representatives of the Hillsborough families and officials from both Liverpool and Everton were present as a permanent Hillsborough memorial was unveiled, external at the Toffees' Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Chloe Bloxam
Fan contributor

Paris St-Germain advanced in the Champions League after beating Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield and 4-0 on aggregate.

It was a game in which Liverpool had to go into having some hope. You didn't have to think Liverpool were going to win the game but you certainly had to hope that maybe, just maybe, under the lights at Anfield something special could happen.

It's fair to say for the first 45 minutes Liverpool were just not good enough. Liverpool didn't show up. There were individuals who were getting bullied. PSG are a really good side and they took control of that first half. The Reds had the big chance in it - Virgil van Dijk having one basically cleared off the line by Marquinhos, which, wow, what a block - but aside from that, it was all PSG.

PSG had chances. PSG were finding so much space so easily. And getting in at half-time at 0-0, I wasn't too against it because of the way we showed up. We didn't use the crowd from the off like we should have done. Then in the second half, there was a 20-minute spell where you think and believe 'oh my, if Liverpool put the ball in the back of the net, they are well and truly back in this game of football, they can go on to do what seems the impossible'.

But - same script, different day.

They do not capitalise, they do not punish their opponents. Liverpool can have spells of football where they're quite good and on top, producing some decent football, but they can just never get that goal and it happens once again. The longer that goes on, the more PSG believe that the sucker-punch is coming and it was disappointing.

We didn't test their goalkeeper and their keeper is their weakest link. Rio Ngumoha had one really good chance which produced a good save from their keeper but that is very much it. We had a lot of the ball, we felt like we had a lot of pressure. Joe Gomez was winning the battle with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but, ultimately, if you don't punish the opponents then they're going to have more belief they can go up the other end and score and they certainly did that.

When Dembele's incredible finish went in, you knew it was done. The people in the ground knew it was done, the players knew it was done. The game ends when Dembele puts it in the back of the net and ultimately, over the course of the two legs, it's fair to say they deserved to go through.

It is a trophyless season for Liverpool. It's not a good enough season. I imagine that Arne Slot will stay until the end of the campaign and then I think Liverpool should reassess the situation, I really do. Until then, Liverpool have to get into the Premier League's top five, it's the only thing they can do and they need to do it.

Find more from Chloe Bloxam at The Redmen TV, external

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views after Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris St-Germain on Tuesday.

Here are some of your comments:

Ian: Liverpool gave it a go, but you always felt PSG were comfortable. A lot has gone against Liverpool this season, but the thing that worries me is the lack of a clear style of play. The players are trying, but it all feels very 'off the cuff' and reactionary, and that ultimately comes down to coaching.

Frank: Disjointed and ineffective performance with an inexplicable choice of formation, choice of players and tactics. Slot is not capable of managing a football team at this level. He will arguably have to leave at the end of the season, just scraping into next year's Champions League by a whisker.

Karen: Played so much better in this match. Unfortunately we were up against a class act side in PSG. We were once, too, but not any more. Liverpool need a total overhaul to get back to being serious competition.

Michael: Slot needs to leave. The spirit of Champions League nights at Anfield is gone. It's now consistent mediocrity all around. No more fighting spirit left in us. Things can't go on like this.

Mark: Better but still couldn't score. Need a top-five finish now otherwise a very bad season.

Shane: Brave battle but knew the outcome would be a defeat. Yet again Slot messes with the line-up when he should have started with the team that beat Fulham. Can't wait to see the back of him.

Paul: We gave it some in the second half, but the game was lost when Slot named his starting line-up. To think we lost on penalties to PSG last year (admittedly they played better than us over two legs) but this year the gulf was enormous between us. Slot is clueless and needs to go - enough is enough.

Miko: Slot's decision to start an out-of-rhythm Isak was baffling at best and diabolical at worst. Still, the gulf in class between us and PSG was undeniable across both legs. Ekitike's serious injury rubbed salt into our wounds. It's maddening - our expensively assembled squad isn't good enough to challenge for trophies, transition season or not. Slot and Hughes must answer for the transfer business that landed us here. We have regressed while our closest rivals have progressed.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock believes the Reds could have been Premier League title contenders had they performed all season in the same manner as they did in their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris St-Germain.

Arne Slot's side provided a much-improved display and threatened to launch a comeback at Anfield before eventually being picked off on the counter-attack and recording another 2-0 defeat to exit 4-0 on aggregate.

"There was a real desire about the team to try to get a result," Warnock told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"They lifted the crowd and the crowd lifted them as well. They gave the crowd something to get off their seats about, there was an energy about them.

"I don't know where it's been. If they had played like that for most of the season, they would have been competing for the title.

"However, they still fell short in terms of really creating anything major and very clear.

"Paris St-Germain defended well at times, but I still think Liverpool are lacking some energy in wide areas with players who are direct. [Rio] Ngumoha came on but you could see his naivety at times.

"They are missing something at the moment, but [it was] a better performance."

Warnock added: "PSG don't carry men. Liverpool carry players and it's incredible. They carry [Florian] Wirtz, they carry [Mohamed] Salah, they carried [Alexander] Isak in the first half.

"You can't carry players. You watch PSG's attackers back in the full-back areas and you think 'that's a team, that's a performance'.

"Liverpool don't do that at the moment and that's a real concern."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Did you know?

• Liverpool have failed to score in both legs of a European Cup/Champions League knockout stage tie for the third time, after the 1978-79 first round v Nottingham Forest and the 2005-06 last-16 tie against Benfica.

• The Reds have lost five games in a single Champions League campaign for the first time - the ninth time a Premier League side has done so.

Image source, Getty Images

French football journalist Julien Laurens says Arne Slot's starting line-up in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second-leg defeat by Paris St-Germain was "complete nonsense".

Slot opted to give Alexander Isak his first start since December and left Mohamed Salah on the bench - as he did in the first leg. Salah was introduced on the half-hour mark after Hugo Ekitike was forced off with what looked like a worrying injury.

He then made a double substitution at the break, taking off Isak for Cody Gakpo and Jeremie Frimpong for Joe Gomez, and Liverpool started the second half on the front foot but failed to make it count.

"I don't want to blame Arne Slot again like we did last week, but that line-up to start was complete nonsense," Laurens told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast.

"That second half should have been exactly how Liverpool started the game to get the crowd going. It should not have been Isak from the start. I don't understand it.

"Slot made errors in the first leg in his line-up and the way they set up. We said before the game that he could not afford to get it wrong again.

"You can't change things at half-time and expect them to turn around this game, he had to get it right from the beginning.

"For me, again, he let the team down, the club down and the fans down.

"Isak could only have played 15 minutes. He made two passes and touched the ball five times. They played with 10 men in the first half. He could not have played 45 minutes. Ten at best at the end if you're pushing and you're 1-0 up maybe, but 45 - never in a million years and certainly not from the start."

Former Reds full-back Stephen Warnock added: "I watched him [Isak] here against Fulham and he was awful.

"He was non-existent [against PSG]. Gakpo did more in five minutes than Isak did in the whole first half. He is nowhere near fit. He's not got one ounce of fitness in him this season and it tells.

"You're thinking you can put him in against PSG in the biggest game of your season, against the best team in Europe, and think you're going to get a performance in 45 minutes - you can't just switch it on and off."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Did you know?

• Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak all started the same game for Liverpool for just the second time in all competitions, after their 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in October.

• Liverpool had 17 shots in the second half of this match, after having just four in the opening 45 minutes. PSG, on the other hand, had just four attempts after half-time (eight in the first half), scoring with two of them.

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate is close to agreeing a new contract to stay at Anfield. The 26-year-old was expected to leave this summer but could now sign a four-year extension. (RMC - in French, external)

Meanwhile, the Reds want Hoffenheim and Ivory Coast winger Bazoumana Toure, 20, in the summer. (Teamtalk, external)

Borussia Dortmund and Germany centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck, 26, has a release clause of about £43m-£52m which only applies to three clubs - including Liverpool and Real Madrid, but not Bayern Munich. (Bild - in German, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Two Premier League heavyweights are set to face each other this weekend at Etihad Stadium, as Manchester City host Arsenal.

Both teams go into the fixture with different targets. For Mikel Arteta's side, it is about extending their lead at the top of the table. For Pep Guardiola's side, it is about closing the gap and keeping themselves in the title race.

It is a fixture being labelled a title decider by some, so we want to know who you want to win this Sunday's match.

Will you be cheering on the Citizens or getting behind the Gunners?

Make your selection

Aadam Patel
Liverpool reporter

Image source, Getty Images

This was always going to be an almighty ask for Liverpool.

Although they were miles better than they were last week in the French capital, Arne Slot's side simply didn't test goalkeeper Matvei Safonov enough.

On the eve of this game, both Slot and the players spoke about having the belief to do something special and they certainly threatened in phases, but there is little doubt the better team across the two legs won.

Had the penalty decision in the second half stayed in Liverpool's favour, who knows what could have happened - Luis Enrique's side were on the back foot at that moment as the hosts upped the ante.

But PSG constantly asked questions of Giorgi Mamardashvili and once the Georgian keeper was undone by a sublime finish from Ousmane Dembele, any belief left inside Anfield evaporated.

Liverpool can take some pride from their display against arguably the finest team in Europe, but the fact they failed to score across 180 minutes of football is simply not good enough. There is no shame in getting knocked out by PSG, but the final scoreline across two legs does not make for good reading.

In Slot's defence, it was only the second time his three major summer signings in Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz started a game together. Yet by half-time, only Wirtz was left on the pitch - with Ekitike forced off with an injury and Isak taken off, having only just returned from injury.

For Slot, qualifying for the Champions League next season is now the bare minimum.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot spoke to Amazon Prime after his side bowed out of the Champions League: "We got much more than we deserved last week by only losing 2-0, like last season. Also the same as last season today we got much less than we deserved. We should have won but it is from the quality of them why they don't concede.

"Last week was of course tough and very difficult but we showed in a week that we can improve a lot and it is a big compliment to the players that they showed how they could be.

"The players kept on going, even after going 1-0 down, and that is a big compliment to them.

"If you look at xG we should have scored two but didn't score one and that has happened far too often this season."

On Hugo Ekitike's injury, that led to an early substitution: "Not too good. We could all see it didn't look good. Let's wait and see what it will be. In the second half he went home and I haven't seen him yet.

"As it seems to be, losing a player is something we have had many times this season but it is especially hard for him because you never want to be injured, especially at this time of the season."

On the decision to overturn Liverpool's second-half penalty: "If you look at our season, I am completely not surprised because so many decisions have gone against us. For me it is quite simple, if the referee did not give a penalty the VAR would never have intervened.

"As I said I don't think it is a surprise this season, not just the Champions League but also in the Premier League many decisions have gone against us.

"We couldn't score a goal, we had many chances."

On the focus now on getting in the Premier League's top six: "Of course. That is what we have to play for now in the coming weeks. The good thing Alex [Isak] is back, well able to make minutes.

"Much has been said that the club is in a transition. The club has sold eight to 10 players to make money to sign five or so very talented players.

"We have to sell to buy. We are losing some players on a free transfer. It is a big challenge in the summer but the club has shown this model works. As I said many times, the future looks very good, especially if we can sign players after good players leaving this summer."

• Listen to more from Slot on BBC Sounds

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Liverpool's performance

Come back on Wednesday for a selection of your replies

Arne Slot starts with both Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike up top, with Isak making his first start since December. And just like in Paris last week, Mohamed Salah is left on the bench by the Liverpool boss.

Liverpool XI: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Ekitike, Isak.

Subs: Woodman, Misciur, Gomez, Salah, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Robertson, Nyoni, Nallo, Ngumoha.

For Paris St-Germain, Luis Enrique names an unchanged side from the team that beat Liverpool in Paris last week.

Paris St-Germain XI: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes, Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Neves, Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia.

Subs: Chevalier, Marin, Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Ramos, Lee, Hernandez, Mayulu, Dro, Barcola, Mbaye.