Liverpool’s Hugo Ekitiké ruled out for rest of season and World Cup with France

• Forward could be out until 2027 with suspected achilles tendon rupture

• Ekitiké is club’s leading goalscorer this season with 17 goals

The Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitiké will miss the rest of the season and the World Cup with the injury he sustained against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, Didier Deschamps has confirmed.

Ekitiké suffered a suspected achilles tendon rupture in the first half of Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final second leg defeat and could be sidelined until next year as a result. The full extent of the 23-year-old’s injury has not been confirmed – he underwent scans on Wednesday and Liverpool are expected to provide an update later this week – but the head coach of the France national team has ruled Ekitiké out of his plans for this summer’s World Cup.