Rio Ngumoha joins Lamine Yamal and Cristiano Ronaldo in exclusive Champions League club
Liverpool's teenage winger Rio Ngumoha is quickly making a name for himself on Europe's biggest stage. After another standout night at Anfield, the 18-year-old has put his name next to some of the most famous players of the Champions League era.
According to Opta, Ngumoha is just the fourth player on record, since the 2003-04 season, to completeseven or more dribbles in multiple Champions League games as a teenager. He has done it twice, joining Lamine Yamal, who has done it four times, Cristiano Ronaldo, who did it three times, and Arjen Robben, who did it twice.
It is an exclusive list that features a Ballon d'Or contender, one of the best players in history and one of the most explosive wingers of his generation. Ngumoha's latest display came in Liverpool's 4-3 win over Villarreal, in which the Reds came back from two goals down.
Villarreal led 2-0 after goals from Georges Mikautadze and Segi Cardona, but Alexis Mac Allister pulled one back in the 36th minute, and in first-half stoppage time Ngumoha delivered a cross from the flank that Ronald Araujo headed in for the equalizer. Tweet placeholder In the second half, the teenager sprinted down the right side, beat two defenders and pulled the ball back for Mac Allister to score the third goal, before Florian Wirtz added a fourth to put Liverpool in control.
The win also kept Liverpool's perfect start to the league phase going,with three wins from three games. see also Ronald Araujo addresses permanent Liverpool transfer option following Barcelona loan Ngumoha sets new Liverpool record The two assists also gave Ngumoha another record.
At 18 years and 52 days, he becamethe youngest player in Liverpool's history to provide an assist in European competition, passing Michael Owen, who was 18 years and 324 days old when he did it against Valencia in November 1998. Ngumoha's night also puts him in another select group.
He became thethird-youngest player to provide multiple assistsin a single Champions League game, behind only PSG's Warren Zaïre-Emery and Theo Walcott. Whether or not Ngumoha keeps climbing these lists, he has shown that he belongs on this stage.
At just 18, he is already delivering decisive moments for Liverpool in the Champions League, and the comparisons with players like Yamal and Cristiano, who also stood out at an early age, will only grow if he keeps playing at this level.