New Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike struck after four minutes against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield 2025 – before Jean-Philippe Mateta replied with a penalty and a Jeremie Frimpong restored the Reds’ lead.
France Under-21 forward Hugo Ekitike – signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial £69m in July – exchanged passes with Florian Wirtz on the left, shifted to his right just outside the box and curled a precise low finish beyond USA defender Chris Richards and goalkeeper Dean Henderson to open the scoring.
What an introduction by Hugo Ekitike 🤩
4 minutes is all it for the big Frenchman to make his mark, with a brilliant finish to put Liverpool ahead ⚽️
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/h6DcLaLn1o
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 10, 2025
Germany midfielder Wirtz arrived from Leverkusen in June for £100m, potentially rising to a British-record £116m.
In the highest-scoring first half of a Community Shield match since 1992, FA Cup holders Palace equalised through Jean-Philippe Mateta’s penalty after Virgil van Dijk fouled Ismaila Sarr.
All level here at Wembley! 🤯
Foul on Sarr by van Dijk, and Mateta steps up confidently to crash home the penalty to make it 1-1!
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/Y36vOj1r81
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 10, 2025
The Eagles were level for four minutes, Frimpong’s cross from the right looping over Henderson to restore Liverpool’s lead after Dominik Szoboszlai’s angled pass had located the Netherlands right-back.
Liverpool are ahead, and it’s another new man as Jeremie Frimpong’s cross finds the far corner to make it 2-1 ⚽️
Right on the 20 minute mark 2️⃣0️⃣
“Some things are just meant to be”📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/5TKVrGM6td
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) August 10, 2025
Frimpong joined the reigning Premier League champions from Leverkusen for £29.5m in May.
Crystal Palace vs Liverpool – Community Shield Final Betting Offers & Free Bets
Ekitike goal: ‘Four minutes is good’
Former Scotland striker Ally McCoist said Ekitike had been thinking about backheeling the ball before scoring with his fourth touch.
“He hasn’t got a runner going off him, so he makes himself available again for the pass, takes it inside, gets his half yard,” McCoist told TNT Sports.
“Bang – finish through the defender’s legs, goalkeeper no chance. What a way to say hello to everybody.”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot applauded the goal in his technical area. “As soon as you get a move to a club – particularly as a striker – you just want to get off and running as quickly as you can,” observed McCoist.
“I would suggest that four minutes is quite good.”
Hugo Ekitike stats
Reims-born Ekitike joined Reims – then a Ligue 1 club – in 2013 and made his debut in October 2020 before moving to Danish Superliga club Vejle Boldklub for the rest of the season in January 2021.
A hamstring injury ruled Ekitike out for 10 matches towards the end of that campaign, and he went on to sign for Paris Saint-Germain on a season-long loan in July for a deal that became permanent the following June for more than £30m.
PSG only used Ekitike for eight minutes in their opening game of 2023/24 before sending him on loan that February to Frankfurt, where all four of his goals that season came across their final five games, alongside one assist.
Ekitike scored a hat-trick in a 5-3 Under-21 home friendly win over England in March and goals against Cyprus and Bosnia in Euro Under-21 qualifying in 2024. He is eligible to play for Cameroon through his father.
Hugo Ekitike goals
Ekitike produced three goals and two assists in eight appearances for Vejle Boldklub in the relegation phase of the Danish top flight, then netted 11 times and set up five goals in 27 appearances in all competitions for Reims the following season, including a run of eight goals and two assists in 12 league games either side of two red cards.
He contributed three goals and four assists in 25 Ligue 1 appearances for PSG, making 12 top-flight starts as well as four brief substitute outings in the Champions League.
A breakout season of 22 goals and 12 assists in 48 matches for Frankfurt followed, including four goals and three assists to help The Eagles reach the Europa League quarter-finals and 15 goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga.
That form earned Ekitike a place in EA Sports’ team of the season, picking him in attack alongside Harry Kane – the runaway top scorer in the division for Bayern Munich – and Serhou Guirassy, who scored 21 goals for Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool vs Crystal Palace: Gakpo goes close
Liverpool might have gone 2-0 up but for an impressive diving save from Henderson to turn Cody Gakpo’s finish from inside the penalty area on the left away.
Mateta was then ruthless from the spot, taking a brief run-up before lashing the ball to the left of Alisson, who had earlier made an excellent save to deny the striker in a one-on-one.
Palace had to replace Daichi Kamada with Will Hughes when the Japan international was injured before the break.
Crystal Palace line-up vs Liverpool
Palace managed Oliver Glasner chose the same 11 who began Palace’s historic FA Cup final triumph over Manchester City back in May.
Talisman Eberechi Eze, whose future at the club has been the subject of much speculation over the summer, was expected to provide Palace’s creative spark.
Mateta led the line in the club’s first Community Shield appearance.
Palace starting XI: Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Wharton, Kamada, Eze, Sarr, Mateta
Palace subs: Benitez, Lerma, Clyne, Hughes, Esse, Edouard, Sosa, Devenny, Cardines
Liverpool line-up vs Palace
Left-back Milos Kerkez, who joined Liverpool from Bournemouth for £40m in June, was among Liverpool’s starters.
Brazil international Alisson returned after missing Liverpool’s pre-season tour of Asia for personal reasons and midfielder Ryan Gravenberch was not in the squad because his wife gave birth on Saturday.
Liverpool starting XI: Alisson, Frimpong, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Jones, Salah, Ekitike, Gakpo
Liverpool subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Elliott, Robertson, Nyoni, Doak, Ngumoha
Kick-off in the Community Shield was at 15:00 BST / 10:00 ET / 07:00 PT, with live coverage in the UK on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate.
Fans wanting to watch online and on the go can do so via a vast variety of devices on the discovery+ app.
When does Liverpool’s 2025/26 Premier League season start?
The first round of Premier League matches in 2025/26 will be on the weekend of August 16 2025, with Liverpool starting the action at home to Bournemouth on Friday, August 15 at 20:00 BST.
The game against one of the surprise packages of last season is being shown live in the UK on Sky Sports Premier League, Ultra and Main Event.
The last round of matches this season will all start at the same time on May 24 2026. No rounds will take place within 60 hours of each other and there will be no fixture on December 24.
