Andy Hunter

Forward could be out until 2027 with suspected achilles tendon rupture Ekitiké is club’s leading goalscorer this season with 17 goals The Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitiké will miss the rest of the season and the World Cup with the injury he sustained against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, Didier Deschamps has confirmed. Ekitiké suffered a suspected achilles tendon rupture in the first half of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second leg defeat and could be sidelined until next year as a result. The full extent of the 23-year-old’s injury has not been confirmed – he underwent scans on Wednesday and Liverpool are expected to provide an update later this week – but the head coach of the France national team has ruled Ekitiké out of his plans for this summer’s World Cup.

Club unveil plaque outside South Stand at new stadium Representatives of families attend ceremony Everton have marked the 37th ­anniversary of the Hillsborough ­disaster by unveiling a permanent tribute at Hill Dickinson Stadium to the 97 Liverpool supporters who were unlawfully killed. Representatives of the Hillsborough families and Liverpool FC were invited to a ceremony at ­Everton’s new stadium on Wednesday to pay respects to the 97 and unveil a plaque outside the South Stand.

Return of Alexander Isak is all well and good, but it will not redeem a season of sustained underperformance “The failure is big,” said Ryan Gravenberch as he digested the Champions League defeat by Paris Saint-Germain that ensured Liverpool’s season will finish trophyless. It was a more appropriate description of the team’s plight than Arne Slot’s insistence the future looks bright and a reality the head coach cannot avoid whether Champions League qualification for next season is secured or not. As it must be. Failure is unthinkable for a club whose business model depends on its lucrative revenue streams and a team that 12 months ago was about to win the Premier League title at a canter and then remodelled to the tune of almost £450m. With the top five all qualifying, Chelsea fading from the conversation under Liam Rosenior and a five-point advantage over Brentford and Everton with six games to play, it would be a humiliating final blow for Liverpool to miss out. Slot’s defence for getting a third season to manage Liverpool’s transition would be holed.

Slot: ‘There is a belief we can do special things’ Luis Enrique tells his players to beware ‘pitfalls’ Arne Slot has said Liverpool do not face an impossible task against Paris Saint-Germain but must produce the perfect performance to overcome the European champions in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Liverpool require another stirring Anfield comeback in Tuesday’s second leg to salvage their hopes of silverware having lost 2-0 at Parc des Princes last week. PSG were vastly superior in the first leg and should have won more comfortably, although their head coach, Luis Enrique, described such talk as “a trap” and claimed there will be “pitfalls” for his team at Anfield.

Last year’s title ‘postponed’ overhaul says manager Slot insists he ‘can feel that support’ from fanbase Arne Slot has said last season’s title triumph “postponed” the end of an era at Liverpool but that the club were under no illusions a rebuild was required when appointing him as Jürgen Klopp’s successor. Two more links to the Klopp era will be removed this summer when Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah leave on free transfers. Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Joe Gomez, the remaining players from the squad that delivered Premier League and Champions League success to Anfield under Klopp, will then enter the final years of their contracts.

Left-back who joined in 2017 is out of contract in summer Napoli, Juventus, Atlético and Spurs keen on Robertson Andy Robertson is to bring his illustrious Liverpool career to a close at the end of the season, the club have confirmed. The 32-year-old is out of contract this summer and will follow another renowned player of the Jürgen Klopp era, Mohamed Salah, in leaving Anfield on a free transfer. Napoli, Juventus, Atlético Madrid and Tottenham are all keen on signing the Scotland captain, who rejected a move to Atlético last summer.

‘No one gives us a chance … we have to show the fight’ Champions League first-leg loss was side’s 16th of season Virgil van Dijk has compared the scale of Liverpool’s task against Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona in 2019 but conceded belief may not be as strong in Arne Slot’s team amid an “unacceptable” season. Liverpool require another remarkable Anfield comeback to salvage their Champions League aspirations after losing the first leg of their quarter-final against PSG 2-0 on Wednesday. The scoreline flattered the Premier League champions, who were outclassed at the Parc des Princes, yet Van Dijk is “100%” convinced the tie can be transformed on home soil. Memories of Barcelona in 2019 fuel the captain’s conviction.

Arne Slot under pressure before Champions League tie Van Dijk questions togetherness after 15th loss of season Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool “gave up” during their FA Cup defeat at Manchester City and has apologised to fans for the woeful performance that heightens the pressure on Arne Slot. A dejected Liverpool captain was unsparing in his assessment of the heaviest defeat of Slot’s reign and claimed it will be difficult for the team to recover for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain.

Salah critical of head coach in December after being left out Slot: ‘The only one who can talk about it is Mo himself’ Arne Slot has no regrets over his treatment of Mohamed Salah and claimed it was entirely the forward’s decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season. The Liverpool head coach declined to divulge why or when Salah decided to leave the club as he faced the media on Friday for the first time since the Egypt international’s announcement. Slot believes it should be left to Salah to explain the reasons for exiting 12 months before his contract is due to expire.

Starting at Manchester City in the FA Cup, Arne Slot must show doubters his plan for a team in transition can succeed There were more important reasons for Jürgen Klopp’s return to Liverpool last Saturday, but it was apposite his presence reminded Anfield of the unshakable bond and belief they once shared, the joy his football brought. Those pillars of Klopp’s reign are weakening under Arne Slot and April may determine whether they are left standing at all. Two cup quarter-finals in succession should signal a season on the right track for Liverpool; showpiece occasions such as Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday whetting the appetite for what May could have in store.