'Ridiculous footballer' - Hugo Ekitike leaves Liverpool fans in dreamland after £79m signing scores 228 seconds into his debut

The Frenchman picked up the ball from Florian Wirtz on the edge of the Crystal Palace area and curled a low effort from the top of the box into the bottom right corner, beyond the reach of Dean Henderson. With his first shot in English football and just 228 seconds into his debut, as per Opta, Ekitike had put Liverpool 1-0 up in the Community Shield. It was a dream start for the new £79 million ($107m) striker who joined this summer from Eintracht Frankfurt and will have been hoping to make a scoring start to his time at his new club. It was an effort worthy of sending the Reds fans into hysteria.

On X, Ben Mattinson declared the striker as "the real deal", saying: "I tried to tell people."

Antonio Mango said: "Even putting Goals and Assists aside, Hugo Ekitike will be unreal for Liverpool. What a talented guy."

@umirf1 tweeted: "Remember all that Ekitike’s xG underperformance talk. I tried to tell you why it was a farce when contextualised. Ridiculous footballer."

Dougie Critchley was envious of Liverpool fans. He said: "That must be any Liverpool fan’s dream… A Wirtz and Ekitike link-up, beautiful finish… Unreal goal."

Lewis Steele considered how Ekitike has improved upon an already talented frontline, saying: "Hugo Ekitike with a goal to show why Liverpool paid so much money for him. Neat footwork in a tight area and a beautiful finish. Extremely early days but that is a very well taken strike and, you have to say, Darwin Nunez would have never scored a goal like that."

With talk of Alexander Isak joining Liverpool and likely taking the starting number nine spot, Ekitike is laying down his mark in the middle of the Liverpool attack. The Frenchman could not have made a better start to his time at the club, helping them to an early 1-0 lead. Liverpool were later pegged back when fellow French striker Jean-Phillipe Mateta equalised from the spot before Jeremie Frimpong also scored on his debut to restore the Reds' lead.

After the Community Shield, Ekitike and Liverpool's attention turns to the Premier League and retaining their crown. Arne Slot's side kick off their defence on Friday against Bournemouth at Anfield.