‘He already has a big impact’ – Frankfurt boss hails former player Ekitike ahead of Liverpool clash

Slot: Liverpool have not lost confidence yet amid losing run

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Eintracht Frankfurt head coach Dino Toppmoller has hailed the impact his former striker Hugo Ekitike has already made at Liverpool.

Ekitike was signed by Liverpool from Toppmoller’s Frankfurt in the summer in a £79 million deal, and he has so far netted five goals for Arne Slot’s team.

Ahead of Frankfurt’s clash with Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday – which will be live on TNT Sports and discovery+ – Toppmoller has discussed his former forward.

“I mean, there are several [Liverpool] players I trained already,” Toppmoller told TNT Sports.

“[Dominik] Szoboszlai, [Ibrahima] Konate, and also for sure Ekitike. [Ryan] Gravenberch at Bayern as well.

“But for sure, with the connection [with Ekitike] it was closer because he was my player for one and a half years and my main striker, so it’s very nice to see how he directly fits perfectly in the squad of Liverpool.

“He has already scored his goals, and he already has a big impact on the game for them, and I expect him also to start tomorrow.

“We are looking forward to seeing him and hopefully at the end of the game we will be the winners.”

Highlights: Osimhen penalty hands Galatasaray victory over Liverpool

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Toppmoller also played down Liverpool’s run of defeats. Slot’s Premier League champions have lost their last four matches, including Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United.

Toppmoller has put much of their poor run down to bad luck, however, saying: “It’s not about a good or a bad time. You need to have a closer look at the results and the games.

“If you have a closer look, they were in all games the better team. They had bigger chances to score now over the weekend.

“They were very unlucky in a lot of situations. [Cody] Gakpo, I think, hit the post three times.

“So, I mean, we know the quality of this team, but we also know that there are some possibilities also for us to be dangerous. And we want to take the energy from the stadium tomorrow, here in front of this crowd

“It’s not so easy for every opponent to play here. So, yeah, we’re looking forward to facing the champion of England.”

Hugo Ekitike celebrates after scoring against Southampton in the League Cup last month

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Frankfurt are seventh in the early Bundesliga table, drawing 2-2 at Freiburg on Sunday.

They have had the most dramatic of starts to their Champions League campaign, beating Galatasaray 5-1 but then losing 5-1 at Atletico Madrid.

Toppmoller was also asked to explain more about his stated desire for his team to be “positive troublemakers”.

“Positive troublemakers means that we play with passion, we try to play forward, we want to score goals, we are like an offensive-minded team,” he added.

“For sure, we know that when we face teams who are maybe this step ahead of us, like tomorrow Liverpool, or when we face Bayern in the Bundesliga competition, that we have less possession.

“Maybe it seems like we are not this attacking team, but we try to stay with ourselves. We have our DNA and we want to play forward, we want to create chances, we want to show that we dare to play and that is, I think, also what fits very well with the players.”

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