Liverpool 'could have won 10-0' in Galatasaray thumping, says Ekitike

Hugo Ekitike believes that Liverpool would not have been flattered by a 10-0 scoreline during their second-leg thrashing of Galatasaray in the Champions League round of 16. 

Ekitike was on target in Liverpool's 4-0 victory at Anfield on Wednesday, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah also getting on the scoresheet. 

After trailing by a goal in the first leg, the Reds roared back in some style, setting up a quarter-final reunion with Paris Saint-Germain, who knocked them out in the play-off round last year.

Liverpool's triumph saw them overturn a first-leg deficit to progress from a two-legged knockout tie in the Champions League for just the third time (in eight attempts), after the 2006-07 semi-final v Chelsea and 2018-19 semi-final v Barcelona.

And Arne Slot's side were more than worthy of their win here, having registered a mammoth expected goals (xG) total of 5.02 from their 32 shots, 16 of which were on target. 

Liverpool's xG of 2.17 was their highest in any first half at Anfield in all competitions under Slot's tenure, and Ekitike said that his side should have been out of sight by the break. 

"I think we deserve to be here," said Ekitike on TNT Sports. "Really happy. I think we did a great job tonight. We could have won 10-0.

"We missed a few chances, but we still did a good job. We can be proud of ourselves tonight, and we can look forward to the quarter-final. I think we needed this.

"We missed a few chances at the end of the first half. When I sat in the locker room at half-time, I was thinking 'we need to keep this game'. I had my chance.

"I could have scored more tonight to be honest. Ryan scored straight away. I think it helped the team. Everybody did a great job; ran for each other and that's why we won."

It was also a special night for Salah, who, after seeing his first-half penalty saved, registered a goal and an assist in a rampant display in the second 45 minutes. 

Salah became the first African player to score 50 goals in the Champions League (two for Basel, one for Roma, 47 for Liverpool), while also recording his 200th and 201st goal involvements for Liverpool at Anfield in all competitions (140 goals, 61 assists), reaching that tally in just 211 appearances.

The Egyptian also ended the match with team-high totals for shots on target (six) and touches in the opposition box (13). 

"He's a legend," Ekitike said of Salah. "Sometimes people say that he has had a difficult season, but for players like us, who have been watching him for years, he's important.

"Tonight, he had many chances, but he still had the mindset to give me a great ball to score. I'm really happy for him. He deserves it. We need to do that every game now."

Liverpool will now prepare to take on Luis Enrique's defending champions for a place in the semi-finals, with the Opta supercomputer struggling to split the two sides. 

PSG are given a 56% chance of reaching the final four to Liverpool's 44%, and midfielder Szoboszlai, who now has 20 goal involvements (12 goals, eight assists) in all competitions this season for the Reds, acknowledged the difficulty of the task ahead. 

"Firstly, we take this performance into Saturday, but I watched them against Chelsea last night," Szoboszlai said.

"They are a really good team, but we showed today that we can do anything.

"Every game should be the same. I know the Champions League is a bit different, but we need the same energy heading into Saturday."