Ekitiké Pleased with Work Rate and Team Spirit

Speaking to TNT Sports after Liverpool’s demolition of Newcastle United, goalscorer Hugo Ekitiké had a lot of positives.

“It’s always nice to score goals and give confidence to the players,” he said.

“I think we came here with confidence but also I think tonight is about team spirit. We won 4-1. I scored two goals. Ibou [Ibrahima Konaté] scored and Flo [Florian Wirtz] scored.

“But it’s the whole team if you see the work of Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and Dom [Szoboszlai]. Everybody tonight was running everywhere. It’s not about the one you see on the scoresheet or who scores goals. It’s about the team tonight.”

Much like to us watching from the sidelines, Wirtz was a major story of the confident win.

“He’s a great player who smells football,” Ekitiké said about his approach. “It’s pretty easy for me to play with him. I like to create space, link up and I can do everything with that kind of player. You just have to run in the free space and I know he will find me, like tonight. He gave me a great pass, so it’s just fun to play with him.”

The striker was also asked about the technique on display for both of his finishes, which completely stumped goalkeeper Nick Pope and defenders alike — particularly for his first goal.

“It’s something that I work on in training and I don’t use that much in games,” Ekitiké admitted. “It’s something you don’t see much nowadays. I tried to go past [the defender] but he’s pretty fast so I had to find something.

“The point is like the last games, I would say until the start of the season I beat them to go inside and shoot, but he [the defender] gave me so much space I could try that [finish]. It worked so that’s good!”

Though he has scored a few goals using the technique from his second goal, he said that the first was his favorite.

As for broader goals on the season, the Frenchman claimed he did not set himself specific goalscoring number targets, but intended instead to be important for the club:

“I want to score a lot of goals. I would love to be the top scorer in the club but I don’t think a certain number of goals,” he told TNT Sports. “I just want to be involved and help the team to win because it’s the best thing. As I said, I love to give the assists to Flo when he scored [in another game] and I was involved and gave an assist.

“I just like football. If I give an assist and score, I don’t mind, I just want the team to win and be involved.”

It’s evident to all of us how much enjoyment he gets from the game.

The TNT% Sports reporter brought up the internet’s favorite comparison: Fernando Torres. Ekitiké has surely seen these comparisons as he has a much publicized social media presence; his response to these comparisons is measured and polite:

“Back in the day I couldn’t watch the Premier League, to be honest…I know about him and I watched some clips. I would never put myself on the same level as him… I love him. He was a really good player. If I can reach his level and be even better it would be great, but I have to keep working.”