Hugo Ekitike suffered a serious injury during the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.
The young Reds star, who moved to Anfield from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer for €95 million, was injured while sprinting in the first half without contact with opponents and was forced to leave the field on a stretcher after lengthy treatment.
There are strong indications that he has ruptured his Achilles tendon, writes "GOAL", reports "Gazeta Express".
According to Cambridge University Hospitals, recovery from such an injury takes between 4 and 12 months for athletes. For a return to daily activity/normal walking, recovery can take between 3 and 6 months.
However, the initial phase of healing requires 6–8 weeks of immobilization in a cast or a protective boot.
In the 28th minute, Ekitike tried to reach a ball sent forward by Dominik Szoboszlai, took a step, slipped slightly and fell to the ground. He immediately grabbed his heel and shook his head repeatedly during the tackle.
As medical staff rushed onto the pitch, opposing players Achraf Hakimi and Willian Pacho stood nearby, holding the injured striker's hand.
Mohamed Salah replaced him after around 30 minutes of play, with the striker now expected to miss a significant portion of Liverpool's season, as well as the World Cup with France.
For Salah, this may have been his last appearance in the Champions League, as Liverpool failed to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit, losing again 2-0 at Anfield.
Both goals for the Parisian team were scored by the current Ballon d'Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé (73', 90+1').
This will be Salah's last season at Liverpool, as the club and player have confirmed that they will not extend his expiring contract, and he could move to Saudi Arabia after the World Cup.
Tensions rose before Christmas when Salah publicly criticised his declining role, expressing dissatisfaction with the club and manager Arne Slot; as a result, he was left out for one match.
While Ekitike has scored 23 goals in 44 appearances in his debut season, Salah is below his usual standards, with 11 goals and 9 assists in all competitions.
However, against PSG he tried to show his worth, providing four key passes and registering a shot.
There was great drama in the 64th minute, when Alexis Mac Allister initially won a penalty with the score at 0-0, but VAR overturned the decision./Express newspaper/
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