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Hugo Ekitike, the Liverpool striker, who got signed from Eintracht Frankfurt in the ongoing summer transfer window, made an instant impact on his Premier League debut, helping his team beat Bournemouth 4-2, to start their defense of the title in style. The 23-year-old Frenchman scored in his first match in the Premier League 2025-26 season before providing an assist to Cody Gakpo, following which late goals from Frederico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah sealed the opening day win for Liverpool.
After an emotional tribute to Diogo Jota before the start of the Premier League contest and in the 20th minute at Anfield, Liverpool took the lead in the contest just eight minutes before half-time. Hugo Ekitike, who received a pass from Alexis Mac Allister, attempted a nutmeg on Marcos Senesi, which wasn’t quite executed perfectly, but the rebound fell perfectly into his path.
He went onto put the ball in the far corner of the net after comfortably beating goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, to make it 1-0 in favour of Liverpool despite Bournemouth having managed to keep them relatively quiet to that point in the contest. In the second half, Hugo Ekitike gave an impressive pass in the box to Cody Gakpo, who went past three defenders before finding the back of the net, to make it 2-0 for Liverpool in the 49th minute.
Ekitike became first Liverpool debutant to score and assist on Premier League debut since 2022
Antoine Semenyo brought Bournemouth back into the game with two clinical finishes before the late flurry in the second half from Liverpool was enough to win by two goals on the night. After the opening day win in the new Premier League season, Hugo Ekitike was quoted as saying, as per Sky Sports, “It’s a dream. I always dreamed to play here in the Premier League so I just enjoy every minute.”
“It’s an amazing stadium. The fans at the end when it was at 2-2, they pushed so much. Even on the bench, I enjoyed it.. I wanted to be in the crowd! It’s just amazing. But it’s the first game, we have so much to do to get better and to reach our goals,” he added.
