Slot frustrated by ‘stupid’ red card for Liverpool forward Ekitike | OneFootball

Arne Slot has admitted he was frustrated by the ‘stupid’ red card Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike received against Southampton.

Ekitike was sent off after scoring the winner in the 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win, for removing his shirt in celebration. Having already been cautioned, the Frenchman received a second caution and will now be suspended for this weekend’s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace.

It’s a needless blow for Liverpool, with Ekitike having impressed since his summer arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt. The 22-year-old has scored five times in eight appearances across all competitions and Slot was unimpressed by his ‘stupid’ sending off.

“That was ‘needless’, yes. And it was ‘stupid’. Yeah, it was. The first one was already needless and to a certain extent stupid, because you have to control your emotions. I know how hard it is if you play Premier League or every league in the world, if you are a No.9 then the defender can almost do everything he wants, and then when you shirt-pull a little bit or you push him a little bit then you get a free-kick against you.

“But it’s always the best to control your emotions, and if you cannot control your emotions do it in a way that doesn’t lead to a yellow card. I think I said when I got my red card against Everton [last season], that is always stupid because you can show your emotions but if it leads to a yellow or a red card then it’s stupid. And that’s what happened in the first yellow.

“I told him as well and I said it to numerous media already, if you score in a Champions League final in the 87th minute after outplaying three players and hitting it in the top corner, I can maybe understand that you’re like, ‘This is all about me, what did I do?’ But I am old fashioned, I’m 47 and old maybe.

“I haven’t played at this level but I did score a few goals and if I would have scored a goal like this, I would have turned around and walked up to, in this situation, Federico Chiesa and said, ‘This goal is all about you, this is not about me.’ So, yeah, needless, not smart. You call it stupid. I call it stupid, by the way, as well.”

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