Ngumoha becoming a more 'complete player' for Liverpool, says Iraola

Andoni Iraola believes Rio Ngumoha is becoming a more "complete player" for Liverpool after starring in their 4-3 win over Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday. 

Ngumoha produced a stunning display with assists for Ronald Araujo and Alexis Mac Allister in either half, but Liverpool had things far from their own way at Anfield. 

Villarreal capitalised on some poor Liverpool defending to go two goals up by the 29th minute, with Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona ruthlessly punishing those errors. 

But the Reds hauled themselves level before the break, with Mac Allister heading in Kostas Tsimikas' corner before Araujo charged in at the back post to nod home the equaliser. 

An outrageous touch and cross from Ngumoha teed up Mac Allister's second in the 65th minute, with substitute Florian Wirtz netting his first goal of the season soon after. 

Tani Oluwaseyi's 87th-minute finish threatened a nervy finish, but Liverpool were able to hold on and make it three wins from three to start their Champions League campaign.

But the standout performance came from Ngumoha, who at 18 years and 52 days old, became the third-youngest player to provide multiple assists in a Champions League game behind Warren Zaire-Emery against AC Milan in 2023 (17y 231d) and Theo Walcott against Hamburg in 2006 (17y 250d).

On record since 2003-04, Ngumoha is also just the fourth player to complete 7+ dribbles in multiple Champions League games as a teenager (two), along with Lamine Yamal (four), Cristiano Ronaldo (three) and Arjen Robben (two), with Iraola lauding the talented teenager. 

"I am really happy with Rio. He is trying to improve everything that we try to correct," he told Amazon Prime. "He is playing a lot more on the right and he has adapted really well.

"He's going more inside. He struggled defensively in the first half. The second half was much better. He's becoming a more complete player. He's still only 18.

"In the first half, they were overloading the middle. We decided to put Ryan [Gravenberch] at right-back and be more of a threat working with Rio. I value Ryan a lot.

"We decided to try a bit more one-sided, help more on the left. From there, we finished the first half well and started the second half really well."

Ngumoha's display also saw him become the youngest player on record since 2008-09 to complete 5+ dribbles (seven), have 10+ touches in the opposition box (12) and register an assist (two) in a Champions League match, but he was quick to praise Liverpool's spirit in their comeback. 

All four times Liverpool have been two goals down at home in major European competition inside the opening 29 minutes, they have gone on the win the game, while they won a match in the competition in which they were two goals down for the second time, previously doing so against Villarreal in the semi-finals in May 2022.

The Reds have now avoided defeat in five of their six games in all competitions this season in which they have conceded the opening goal (W3 D2 L1), already more than across the entirety of 2025-26 (W2 D2 L18) under Arne Slot. 

Liverpool are only one of two teams with nine points from three games in this year's league phase along with holders Paris Saint-Germain, who beat Barcelona 4-2 on MD3. 

Ngumoha is yet to score for Liverpool this season, but he said his performance against Villarreal has provided the perfect platform to be more ruthless in front of goal.

"It was a top performance from the boys. We were two goals down but the mentality was always there. We knew we were going to win," Ngumoha added. 

"It's up there with one of the best I've played. I enjoyed myself and the team helped me a lot.

"Whenever I get the ball and there's an opportunity to go one v one or two v one, I believe in myself. I'll just keep going and be ruthless.