Rio Ngumoha inspired Liverpool to come from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Reds endured a difficult opening half-hour, conceding twice through Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona. Alexis Mac Allister pulled one back in the 36th minute before Ronald Araujo headed home Ngumoha’s delightful pass to level just before half-time.
Liverpool improved after the break, with Ngumoha setting up Mac Allister for his second goal of the night. Florian Wirtz then scored his first club goal of the season to extend the Reds’ lead.
Tani Oluwaseyi pulled one back late on, but Liverpool held on to secure a third consecutive win in the competition. Iraola made six changes from Saturday’s victory over Brentford, with Alexander Isak, Bradley Barcola and Wirtz among those initially left on the bench.
Alexis Mac Allister has been a standout performer for Liverpool this season, scoring his fourth goal of the campaign against Villarreal. The Argentine midfielder has two years remaining on the contract he signed after joining the Reds in the summer of 2023.
Providing the latest update on his contract situation at Liverpool, Mac Allister told Amazon Prime: “When I say what I said, it was more about my emotions and feelings. That is their decision and it is fine with me. I do my best in training and in games. We will see what happens.”
Mac Allister was linked with a move to Manchester City during the summer transfer window. He added: “It wasn’t an easy game. Look around Rio, he was amazing tonight. He made the difference.
“He was really important and I’m glad for him. It’s clear the quality he [Rio Ngumoha] has. Everyone knows. It’s easy to say he’s a really good player but he needs to focus on other things. He worked really hard off the ball.
“I would say 35 minutes into the first half, we made some changes. I dropped to the middle to keep more possession because we were not playing well. In the second half, we scored the goals, which is important.
“The idea was to play more on the right and open up more. We did it quite well but we were not osminating the game. After that, the manager changed and we did well.
The Argentine was instrumental in Liverpool’s 2024/25 Premier League title triumph, having also helped the Reds win the Carabao Cup the previous season.
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