Ekitike makes senior France debut as a host of Liverpool stars feature for their national sides | OneFootball

Mohammed Salah scored for Egypt while Hugo Ekitike made his senior France debut in the latest round of World Cup qualifying fixtures.

Last season’s PFA Player of the Year captained Egypt in their World Cup qualifier against Ethiopa. Salah’s penalty in the 41st minute opened the scoring before Omar Marmoush scored six minutes later to seal the match.

The win puts Egypt five points clear at the top of their group, edging them ever closer to securing qualification for the World Cup in 2026.

Elsewhere, Ekitike made his debut for France. The Liverpool striker came on with ten minutes to go as Les Bleus beat Ukraine 2-0. Konate played the full 90 minutes.

Ibrahima Konate also started and played the whole game for France.

Liverpool’s match-winner against Arsenal, Dominik Szoboszlai, played the full 90 minutes in Hungary’s 2-2 draw with the Republic of Ireland.

Szoboszlai created Hungary’s second goal as his corner was headed in by Roland Sallai. Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez started the match alongside the midfielder but was substituted after 80 minutes.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk started alongside his club teammates Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo in the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw against Poland. All three played all 90 minutes of the match.

The club’s first and second choice goalkeepers were also in action this week with Alisson starting for Brazil and keeping a clean sheet as they beat Chile 3-0 in Rio de Janeiro. Giorgi Mamardashvili was a standout player for Georgia at Euro 2024 but he could not stop his side losing 3-2 to Turkey in their World Cup qualifier.

Meanwhile, Andrew Robertson captained Scotland to a 0-0 draw with Denmark and new signing Florian Wirtz played 90 minutes for Germany as they were beaten 2-0 by Slovakia in their first 2026 World Cup qualifying match.

And finally, Premier League record signing Alexander Isak and Alexis Mac Allister were both unused substitutes for Sweden and Argentina respectively. The Swedes drew 2-2 with Slovenia while Argentina beat Venezuala 3-0 in what could be Lionel Messi’s final game for his country on home soil.