pandas.read_excel does not seem to work

[hobbyist]

I run this code:

dataframe = pandas.read_csv(filename, usecols=[2], engine = 'python', skipfooter = skipfooter) 

and runs perfectly.But when I run this command:

dataframe = pandas.read_excel(filename, usecols=[2], engine = 'python', skipfooter = skipfooter)

I get this:

Error:
ValueError: Unknown engine:python

When I omit engine and skipfooter (as I saw by googling related answers) the program "stucks" for hours... Obviously I use .csv file in the first one and .xlsx in the second one. Any idea what I miss here??