Liverpool and France striker Hugo Ekitiké will undergo medical tests on Wednesday on a leg injury that could keep him out of the this summer’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The 23-year-old collapsed to the ground holding his lower right leg 30 minutes into Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday night at Anfield.
Ekitiké, who spent 18 months at PSG before leaving for Eintracht Frankfurt, was carried off the pitch on a stretcher and was replaced by Egypt striker Mohamed Salah.
Following his team’s 2-0 defeat and elimination from the competition, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “The injury looks really bad, but difficult for me to say how bad."
Ekitiké moved to Anfield last July for €91 million on a six-year contract. He has scored 17 goals in all competitions for his new club.
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His performances for Liverpool brought a call-up to the senior national squad during qualifying matches for the World Cup and he notched up his first international goal in France’s 4-0 victory over Ukraine at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
His second came on 26 March in the 2-1 friendly win against Brazil in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
As France boss Didier Deschamps waits on the results of the scans, France skipper Kylian Mbappé will be under the spotlight to lead Real Madrid past Bayern Munich and into the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Bayern host Madrid at the Allianz Arena nursing a 2-1 lead from the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu last Tuesday.
Mbappé scored Madrid’s goal 16 minutes from time to keep the tie alive for Madrid who have won the Champions League and its predecessor competition the European Cup a record 15 times.
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Madrid boss Alvaro Arbeloa played down suggestions that his side needed to perform miracles to succeed in Munich.
"To begin with, we are Real Madrid," Arbeloa said. "If there's a team that can come to the Allianz Arena to turn things around, it's us.
“If we had won the first leg, it wouldn't have been anything crazy. The Bayern goalkeeper was the man-of-the-match. We are capable of getting a result.
“I believe, the players believe, and the club believes. There hasn't been a single fan I've met these past few days who doesn't believe we're going to win."
The winners will play PSG in the semi-final.
In Wednesday night’s other quarter-final second leg, Arsenal entertain Sporting at the Emirates Stadium in north London nursing a 1-0 lead from the first leg in Lisbon.
The victor will play Atletico Madrid.
