New Delhi: France striker Hugo Ekitike is likely to be ruled out of the FIFA World Cup after suffering a ruptured Achilles during Liverpool’s Champions League clash against Paris St Germain.
He was stretchered off in Liverpool’s 2-0 second leg loss to PSG an Anfield on Tuesday, following which French media reported his absence from the quadrennial event on Wednesday.
As medical staff attended to him, the 23-year-old pointed to his Achilles tendon as Liverpool exited the competition with a 4-0 aggregate defeat over two legs.
Ekitike has scored 17 goals across competitions this season after joining Liverpool from Eintracht Frankfurt for 69 million pounds ($93.58 million) in July.
The French football federation (FFF) didn’t immediately offer a comment on his injury. The World Cup is set to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11-July 19.
Asian Cup draw on May 9
The draw for the 2027 Asian Cup has been pushed to May 9 in Riyadh due to the ongoing military conflict in West Asia.
It was supposed to be held on April 11 but the Asian Football Confederation was forced to postpone it to ensure participation of all its key stakeholders and member associations.
The ongoing conflict involving Iran, USA and Israel has resulted in postponement or cancellation of several sporting events in the region.
Saudi Arabia will host the quadrennial continental championship for the first time from January 7 to February 5.
24 qualifying teams will be divided in to six groups of four in the competition. 23 teams have already qualified with the spot to be decided on June 4 when Lebanon take on Yemen in a playoff.
Title holders Qatar, four-time champions Japan and fellow World Cup qualifiers South Korea, Iran, Jordan, Australia and Uzbekistan have all qualified.