Hugo Ekitike’s celebrations were cut short when he was shown a red card after firing Liverpool into the third round of the English League Cup with a late winner against Southampton on Tuesday.
The striker will now be suspended for the Premier League game against Crystal Palace on Saturday, Liverpool later confirmed.
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Cardiff City's Callum Robinson celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round match between Burnley and Cardiff City at Turf Moor, Burnley, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Gary Oakley/PA via AP)
Brighton and Hove Albion's Diego Gomez celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Barnsley and Brighton & Hove Albion at Oakwell Stadium, Barnsley, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Cody Froggatt/PA via AP)
Chelsea's Facundo Buonanotte, left, celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Lincoln City and Chelsea at the LNER Stadium, Lincoln, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Liverpool and Southampton at the Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Referee Thomas Bramall shows the yellow card to Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Liverpool and Southampton at the Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Ekitike converted from close range in the 85th minute to secure a 2-1 win at Anfield after second-tier Southampton had threatened to force a penalty shootout. But his joy turned to anguish when he was sent off for a second yellow card after taking off his shirt during his celebrations.
Ekitike's latest goal was his fifth in eight games for Liverpool after having joined the Premier League champion this offseason from Eintracht Frankfurt for $93.5 million.
Liverpool had led through British record signing Alexander Isak's first goal for the club since his British record $170 million deadline day move from Newcastle. But Southampton — 19th in the Championship — leveled in the 76th through Shea Charles.
With thoughts turning to a shootout, Liverpool produced another late rescue act — scoring a winner in the final 10 minutes for the sixth time this season.
“Not the best performance, which you can expect if you play a complete new team,” said Slot, who made 11 changes from the lineup that beat Everton on Saturday.
Chelsea avoided becoming the latest giant to crash out of the Cup by beating third-tier Lincoln City 2-1 after a second-half fightback.
After becoming the most expensive player in British soccer history, Isak began to repay his fee by opening his Liverpool account with a clinically taken close-range effort in 43rd.
It was only his second start after his drawn-out move from Newcastle impacted in offseason preparations.
The Sweden international was withdrawn at halftime, with Slot easing him into the action at the start of the season.
But he could be called upon to start against Palace following Ekitike's red.
“It was good to get back out there and score my first goal here, at Anfield,” Isak told ITV. "With every game I play it’s very helpful and gets me in better shape. I’m just getting more and more ready.
“It’s a mixture of fitness-wise and also football-wise. I feel good, I feel like I’m in a shape to at least make a difference.”
Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni was taken off on a stretcher after appearing to land awkwardly while making a tackle late on.
“Of course, he is down because for him it didn’t feel good immediately, but this is something now we have to assess,” Slot said.
World champion in July — trailing at third-tier Lincoln in September.
Down 1-0 at halftime, Chelsea turned the game around after the break with quickfire goals from Tyrique George and Facundo Buonanotte.
This season's League Cup has already produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament when fourth-tier Grimsby eliminated Manchester United in the last round. And when Rob Street fired Lincoln ahead in the 42nd minute against Chelsea, it looked like another upset could be on the cards.
But the Premier League team powered back with George leveling in the 48th and Buonanotte hitting the winner two minutes later.
While Chelsea avoided elimination, it was a different story for another top-flight club in Burnley, which was beaten at home 2-1 by Cardiff.
There was no such trouble for Brighton, which beat Barnsley 6-0, with Diego Gomez scoring a first-half hat trick and four goals in total.
Despite being pointless in the league, Wolves beat Everton 2-0, while Fulham overcame Cambridge 1-0.
Wrexham's club-record signing Nathan Broadhead struck twice for the Welsh team in a 2-0 against Reading.
The draw for the fourth round is on Wednesday, following the last remaining third-round games.
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Cardiff City's Callum Robinson celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round match between Burnley and Cardiff City at Turf Moor, Burnley, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Gary Oakley/PA via AP)
Brighton and Hove Albion's Diego Gomez celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Barnsley and Brighton & Hove Albion at Oakwell Stadium, Barnsley, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Cody Froggatt/PA via AP)
Chelsea's Facundo Buonanotte, left, celebrates scoring during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Lincoln City and Chelsea at the LNER Stadium, Lincoln, England, Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025. (Nigel French/PA via AP)
Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Liverpool and Southampton at the Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
Referee Thomas Bramall shows the yellow card to Liverpool's Hugo Ekitike during the English League Cup third round soccer match between Liverpool and Southampton at the Anfield stadium in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic Republic.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “All options remain on the table for the president.”
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The sound of gunfire faded Thursday in the capital, Tehran. The country closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
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Masih Alinejad, one of the most vocal Iranian dissidents in the U.S., accused the United Nations and the Security Council of failing “to respond with the urgency this moment demands” at the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday.
In October, two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars for hiring a hitman to kill Alinejad at her Brooklyn home on behalf of the Iranian government.
Sitting across the table from the Iranian ambassador to the U.N., Alinejad, who came after an invitation from the U.S., said that “the members of this body have forgotten the privilege and responsibility of sitting in this room.”
Ahead of the emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Secretary-General António Guterres
spoke by phone to discuss the recent deadly protests and Iran’s request for the world body to do more to condemn what they call foreign influence in the Islamic Republic, according to a readout of the call posted on Iranian state TV.
The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that Araghchi implored the top U.N. official to live up to the “serious expectation” that Iran’s government and its people have of the U.N.s’ role in condemning what the officials called “illegal U.S. interventions against Iran.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that U.S. President Donald Trump and his team had communicated to Iranian officials that there would be “grave consequences” if killing continues against protesters in Iran.
“The president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday, were halted,” she said.
But Trump continues closely watching the situation, she said.
“All options remain on the table for the president,” Leavitt said.
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group, said on Thursday that “criminal gangs” were responsible for the situation in Iran, accusing them of carrying out an “American-Israeli” scheme.
“Criminal gangs in Iran killed Iranian citizens, security forces and burned mosques,” he said without providing evidence. “What’s being committed by criminal gangs in Iran is horrific, bearing an American stamp as it includes slaughter and burning some people alive.”
He also said that the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Iran to create a crisis leading to the current issues in the country with the end goal of controlling Iran.
Yet he said the U.S. has “failed in Iran” and that Iranians “will not yield to America.”
The president of the European Union’s executive arm says the 27-member bloc is looking to strengthen sanctions against Iran as ordinary Iranians continue their protests against Iran’s theocratic government.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday following a meeting of the EU’s commissioners in Limassol, Cyprus that current sanctions against Iran are “weakening the regime.”
Von der Leyen said that the EU is looking to sanction individual Iranians —apart from those who belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard — who “are responsible for the atrocities.”
She added that the people of Iran who are “bravely fighting for a change” have the EU’s “full political support.”
Canada’s foreign minister says a Canadian citizen has died in Iran “at the hands of the Iranian authorities.”
“Peaceful protests by the Iranian people — asking that their voices be heard in the face of the Iranian regime’s repression and ongoing human rights violations — has led the regime to flagrantly disregard human life,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand posted on social media Thursday.
“This violence must end. Canada condemns and calls for an immediate end to the Iranian regime’s violence,” she added.
Anand said consular officials are in contact with the victim’s family in Canada. She did not provide details.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced Thursday that a local staff member was killed and several others were wounded during the deadly protests in Iran over the weekend.
Amir Ali Latifi, an Iranian Red Crescent Society worker, was working in the country’s Gillan province on Jan. 10 when he was killed “in the line of duty,” the organization said in a statement.
“The IFRC is deeply concerned about the consequences of the ongoing unrest on the people of Iran and is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with the Iranian Red Crescent Society,” the statement continued.
U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed as “good news” reports that the death sentence has been lifted for an Iranian shopkeeper arrested in a violent crackdown on protests.
Relatives of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani had said he faced imminent execution.
Trump posed Thursday on his Truth Social site: “FoxNews: ‘Iranian protester will no longer be sentenced to death after President Trump’s warnings. Likewise others.’ This is good news. Hopefully, it will continue!”
Iranian state media denied Soltani had been condemned to death. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
Trump sent tensions soaring this week by pledging that “help is on its way” to Iranian protesters and urging them to continue demonstrating against authorities in the Islamic Republic.
On Wednesday Trump signaled a possible de-escalation, saying he had been told that “the killing in Iran is stopping.”
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union’s main foreign policy chief said the G7 members were “gravely concerned” by the developments surrounding the protests, and that they “strongly oppose the intensification of the Iranian authorities’ brutal repression of the Iranian people.”
The statement, published on the EU’s website Thursday, said the G7 were “deeply alarmed at the high level of reported deaths and injuries” and condemned “the deliberate use of violence” by Iranian security forces against protesters.
The G7 members “remain prepared to impose additional restrictive measures if Iran continues to crack down on protests and dissent in violation of international human rights obligations,” the statement said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
Women cross an intersection in downtown Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
