Reaction | Rio Ngumoha on Villarreal performance, belief in himself and Anfield singing his name
Rio Ngumoha felt he reached a new level with his electric performance in Liverpool’s comeback victory against Villarreal.
The 18-year-old’s display on Tuesday night featured a pair of assists to help the Reds recover from being 2-0 down to win 4-3 at Anfield in the Champions League.
Alexis Mac Allister scored twice, sandwiching a Ronald Araujo goal, and Florian Wirtz’s finish in front of the Kop proved to be the decider.
Post-match, Ngumoha spoke to Amazon Prime Video – read his reaction below.
On coming back to win and assessing the performance…
It was a top performance from the boys. We were two goals down but the mentality was always there; it came from within and we knew we were going to win. 4-3, delighted with the win.
On where his own display on the night ‘places’…
It’s up there with one of the best I’ve played, I think. I enjoyed myself out there. The team helped me as well a lot. I enjoyed today.
On having the belief to help lead the team forward…
Yeah, definitely. Whenever I get the ball and there’s an opportunity to go one-v-one or two-v-one sometimes, by all means I’ll do it. I believe in myself to do it. The more chances we get, the more it makes the opposition worry. I just keep going and be ruthless.
On becoming the youngest player ever to assist a goal for Liverpool in Europe…
These records are amazing to break but the assist so we win is the most important thing.
On which of his two assists he preferred…
Probably the second one, because the man came tight to me and the ball came, my first touch was direct and then I’m able to run at pace. Macca, good finish.
On developing on the right wing…
Definitely. It’s helping me a lot in training, the gaffer, all the coaching staff, all the players believe in me. Slowly and slowly I’m getting better on the right.
On hearing the fans sing his name at Anfield…
Like I always say, we have the best fans in the world. To hear my name being chanted is a dream.
