Hugo Ekitike has conceded his red card “was not smart” as he voiced his personal disappointment from having to watch Liverpool’s defeat to Crystal Palace at home.The young Frenchman showed his naivety with two careless yellow cards in the Carabao Cup that earned him a one-match suspension in the Premier League.Arne Slot described it as both “needless” and “stupid” as he failed to control his emotions having thrown the ball away before taking off his shirt when celebrating the winning goal.Liverpool were, therefore, unable to call on their in-form striker in their defeat at Selhurst Park, and Ekitike once again apologised when speaking to the media on Monday evening.“I think that was not smart,” he said. “I felt a bit disappointed to watch the boys from home on Saturday, but I apologised to everyone already, to all my teammates. “That kind of thing won’t happen again, so I move on and I’m looking forward to playing and focusing on football.”The 23-year-old is expected to return to the starting lineup on Tuesday in place of Alexander Isak after he played 84 minutes on the weekend, his highest game time since the final day of last season.As for the potential for Ekitike and Isak to start together, the No. 22 reiterated that he is embracing the Swede’s presence and will leave the formation up to Slot.“I can’t see one big club playing with just one striker, so it is good that he is here,” Ekitike said.“For my age, I still have a lot of things to improve and learn so, for me, it is good that he is here.“That’s the coach to decide how he wants to play, not me, but I’ve been playing in two striker compositions and one striker, so I can do a lot of things.“And if we have to play together, I can do that.”In other news, Slot explained why Federico Chiesa was left on Merseyside despite recently being added to the Champions League squad.