(Video) Rio Ngumoha nets show-stopping goal in 7-goal thriller after being robbed of epic moment
Rio Ngumoha was controversially denied a fairytale moment at Anfield on Saturday night, but nothing and no-one was going to stop him from making a show-stopping impact less than 24 hours later.
The 17-year-old came off the bench for Liverpool’s first team in their 3-0 victory over Brighton in the FA Cup and momentarily thought he’d scored in front of the Kop when firing past Jason Steele, but unfortunately the goal was disallowed for offside.
Replays showed that it should have stood, and VAR wasn’t in operation to correct the error, and Arne Slot voiced his disagreement with the decision in his post-match press conference, although the teenage prodigy didn’t dwell on the disappointment for long.
Ngumoha scores worldie for Liverpool under-21s
On Sunday afternoon, Ngumoha lined out for the Reds’ under-21s against their West Brom counterparts in Premier League 2, and the goal that he scored to put his team 3-2 ahead shortly before half-time was a thing of beauty.
Collecting a ball on the left flank from a Trey Nyoni pass, he surged into the penalty area and jinked past two opponents before crashing an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the visitors’ net, and there was nothing in the slightest to prevent that magnificent strike from counting on the scoreboard.
It proved to be a significant moment too, as Rob Page’s side eventually won 4-3 (via liverpoolfc.com).
Ngumoha already looks like an elite talent
With the greatest of respect to the under-21s, even a hat-trick yesterday wouldn’t have meant as much for Ngumoha as a goal in front of the Kop in a competitive fixture only a few months after turning 17.
Nonetheless, what happened on Saturday night takes nothing away from the excellent of the strike that he produced in the victory over West Brom, and any minutes that he can get on the pitch at any level will stand to the teenager as he embarks on what has the makings of being an elite career.
It isn’t his first time double-jobbing on the same weekend, either – he followed up his outing off the bench in our 3-2 Premier League defeat to Bournemouth last month with by lining out for the under-21s against Leeds the very next day.
Ngumoha has already shown glimpses of his outrageous talent at senior level, displaying a confidence and dribbling ability which belies his tender years, and there have been calls for Slot to play him more regularly.
There has been an understandable reluctance from the first-team head coach to expose the winger too much at such a sensitive stage in his footballing development, but everything we’ve seen of the 17-year-old so far suggests that he’s taking that biggest of leaps in his stride.
You can view Ngumoha’s goal for Liverpool’s under-21s below, via thelfcacademy on Instagram:
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