Hugo Ekitike is not the first Liverpool player to be booked for taking his shirt off after scoring, with Roberto Firmino famously breaking the record for excessive celebration.
Ekitike will miss Liverpool’s trip to Crystal Palace in the Premier League after being shown a second yellow card for celebrating his winner against Southampton.
The Frenchman removed his shirt after tapping in to make it 2-1 late on in the Carabao Cup and, having after being booked for punching the ball away earlier in the game, was sent off by referee Thomas Bramall.
It was the correct decision and Arne Slot was rightly angry with his striker for picking up a “needless and stupid” suspension.
That transgression brought back memories of a player Ekitike has already been compared to in leading the line for Liverpool.
Firmino became renowned for shirt-off celebrations in his early seasons at Liverpool – so much so that he had to stop doing so after a record number of bookings.
The Brazilian left the club two years ago while still holding the record for the most yellow cards for ‘excessive celebration’ since records began in the Premier League (five).
Following another booking after a goal against Man City in the league in January 2018, Firmino had been cautioned more times for excessive celebration than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues since 2012/13 (eight).
He was booked two more times after scoring following that instance: for removing his shirt to mark his Club World Cup winner against Flamengo in 2019 and then leaping the advertising hoardings to celebrate with the away fans in the 2-0 win at Arsenal in 2022.
Firmino began making a point to start removing his shirt before pulling it back down as a tongue-in-cheek nod to his unwanted record.
Liverpool’s former No. 9 also rotated through a number of other inventive goal celebrations, often emulated by Sadio Mane.
Liverpool will have no concern over it becoming a habit for Ekitike, of course, particularly after Slot made it clear he would not accept it.
Ekitike already told ‘don’t do it again’
Speaking to Sky Sports after the 2-1 victory over Southampton at Anfield, vice-captain Andy Robertson said he would be “very surprised if he does it again.”
“Scoring a goal is always emotional, but he’s obviously just forgot he’s been booked,” Robertson said.
“The first one’s stupidity, kicking the ball away, we know the rules around that.
“It’s two silly bookings to pick up and now we’ll miss him for Saturday. It’s silly from his part but he’s only young and he’ll learn from it.
“I’m happy that he scored, but then the last 10 minutes it was made a bit more difficult going down to 10 men.
“So he’ll learn from it and I’m sure he won’t do it again.”