{"id":217120,"date":"2025-10-11T16:34:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T16:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/217120\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T16:34:12","slug":"liverpool-star-hugo-ekitike-gets-brutally-honest-verdict-from-french-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/217120\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool star Hugo Ekitike gets brutally honest verdict from French media"},"content":{"rendered":"

French media have given their assessment on Hugo Ekitike’s performance as France cruised to victory over Azerbaijan in World Cup qualifying<\/p>\n

Mark Whiley Sports Reporter<\/p>\n

11:02, 11 Oct 2025Updated 11:04, 11 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"HugoHugo Ekitike was given one of the lowest marks out of 10 after France’s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike received a low rating from French media as he struggled to replicate his excellent Liverpool form<\/a> on the international stage. Ekitike<\/a> has hit the ground running since arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt<\/a> in the summer, with his silly sending off against Southampton<\/a> in the Carabao Cup after removing his shirt in celebration being the only blot in his copybook.<\/p>\n

That form led to him being handed his first senior caps by France boss Didier Deschamps last month. After substitute appearances against Ukraine and Iceland, Ekitike was thrown into the starting line-up for Friday\u2019s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan, partnering Kylian Mbappe in a front two.<\/p>\n

Mbappe scored for the 10th successive match and for the 13th time in 14 appearances this season as France won 3-0. The Real Madrid striker\u2019s 53rd international goal \u2013 after a brilliant mazy dribble \u2013 put him within four of Olivier Giroud\u2019s national team record of 57.<\/p>\n

Adrien Rabiot and Florian Thauvin found the net after the break as Deschamps\u2019 side made it three wins from three in Group D. Ekitike, who was replaced by Jean-Philippe Mateta on 79 minutes, had a quieter game than strike partner Mbappe.<\/p>\n

As a result, he picked up a lowly rating of just 4\/10 from leading French title L\u2019Equipe<\/a>, who said of his performance: \u201cPlenty of effort and energy, but little end product.<\/p>\n

\"HugoHugo Ekitike started up front with Kylian Mbappe(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe struck eight times, hit the base of the post, but missed the target too often. His movement was good, yet his execution lacked precision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Bayern Munich\u2019s Michael Olise – a player who has been linked with Liverpool<\/a> – received a lower mark, 3\/10. L\u2019Equipe said: \u201cStruggled to impact the game; lacked sharpness and cohesion with teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Mbappe, who suffered an ankle injury late on, was top of the class with 8\/10, with the majority of the team receiving fives and sixes.<\/p>\n

\"HugoEkitike joins in with the celebrations after Adrien Rabiot’s goal(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, La Depeche<\/a> were a little more generous with Ekitike, giving him 5.5\/10. They said: \u201cA timid start, before becoming the useful link for the opening goal. His driven shot hit the post; he went close again after a fine solo run. Even tried an audacious backheel – full of initiative, if not success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, most players received fives and sixes, with Mbappe leading the way with 7.5\/10.<\/p>\n

Ekitike is set to get further chances to impress Deschamps, who has been monitoring the 23-year-old for some time. Speaking in August, after calling him up for the first time, he said: \u201cHugo, because of what he did last season and at Liverpool, we were already following him at Frankfurt.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Olise was given just 3\/10(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cGood for him. It\u2019s great that he’s effective, but there\u2019s competition. I\u2019m not going to pile up players, but he has the potential for the French team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ekitike will hope to make a more significant impact when France continue their World Cup qualifying campaign away to Iceland on Monday. The 2022 runners-up complete their Group D fixtures in November when they host Ukraine and travel to Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Before then, Ekitike will hope to regain his place in the Reds\u2019 starting line-up ahead of fellow new signing Alexander Isak, having started the defeat at Chelsea<\/a> on the bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French media have given their assessment on Hugo Ekitike’s performance as France cruised to victory over Azerbaijan in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[16415,1711,403,99],"class_list":["post-217120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-hugo-ekitike","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}