Liverpool youngster Lewis Koumas has opened up on an important week in his career and his plans under head coach Andoni Iraola

There was a nice moment inside the bowels of Linz Airport at the end of a day of double triumph in Austria for Liverpool. As the under-19 squad, still basking in their 4-2 comeback victory over LASK in the UEFA Youth League, waited patiently to head through passport control, the first team arrived to board their flight back to Merseyside.

And when Lewis Koumas walked by, he was congratulated with a steady stream of celebratory high fives from many players and staff he had encountered during his rise through the Academy ranks.

It was merited after the striker’s persistence was rewarded with Liverpool’s final goal in the knockabout 6-3 Champions League win over LASK at the Raiffeisen Arena.

For Koumas it capped a remarkable few weeks in which he earned plaudits for his performances with Wales, turned 21 and was handed a first Premier League start against Manchester City.

The youngster continued to answer the call in the absence of Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike by marking his full Champions League debut by netting having twice seen goals disallowed for marginal offside calls.

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And having earlier teed up the first of Bradley Barcola's hat-trick, it meant Koumas became only the second player aged 21 or under to score and assist in a Champions League game for Liverpool after Steven Gerrard did so against Dynamo Kyiv 25 years earlier.

"Am I? Is that official?" responded Koumas. "It’s not a bad stat, is it? And it’s not a bad name to be alongside. Wow. What a legend. I just want more of this.

"I’m loving how things are going but this is also my job. I need to get goals and assists, I hadn’t had any before Linz so it was really important to get them."

Asked if he would have been someone to avoid had he not scored after his two disallowed strikes, Koumas added: "Oh my God! I would not have been a happy man, I would have been gutted.

"Going over to the fans at the end meant absolutely everything. They are the reason we do this and that we want this sort of job. They mean everything to us. I wish I could have got in there with them but there was a big metal cage in the way!

"It was the best feeling in my career, 100%. I’m just really grateful to have the opportunity again."

Having scored on his senior debut for Liverpool in an FA Cup win over Southampton way back in February 2024, it was a long wait between Reds goals for Koumas, although in between there were loan spells in the Championship with Stoke City, Birmingham City and Hull City.

It could have been shortened by a few days when only a good save from City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma prevented Koumas from putting Liverpool ahead at the weekend before the dismissal of Ryan Gravenberch contributed to an eventual 3-0 defeat.

And the young striker said: "I was thinking about the chance all night. I couldn’t really sleep. I feel like I couldn’t have hit it any better. The keeper is huge and he was just in the right place and I think in normal circumstances it goes in.

"Was I nervous before the City game? No. Nerves don’t come into it. This is my job and what I meant to do. I am meant to be trusted to go in so, when I get the chance, I have got to do my best."

Koumas was one of four players - fellow Academy graduates Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha and £60million Jeremy Jacquet the others - aged 21 or under to start the game for Liverpool, making it their third-youngest ever Champions League XI and fifth-youngest when including the European Cup.

And the Wales international said: "There is a buzz and it gives us all a motivation to keep going. We are getting chances but, ultimately, it is because we are good enough.

"Trey and Rio are unbelievable and, if you are good enough it doesn’t matter how old you are. Every time you see them play – look at Trey, how mature he is and how he manages the game. He dictates how the game is going to go. He’s 19! He shows levels all the time."

With continued doubts over the fitness of Isak and Gakpo, Koumas is on standby for a third successive start when Liverpool journey to Brentford on Saturday afternoon. But the youngster is realistic when consider whether regular first-team action will become the norm.

"Hopefully that is the case and that’s how I would love it to go," he said. "(But) you never know when your last game is going to be. I know that sounds like a cliche but it is true. Alex will be back soon training, Cody will be fit soon.

"But I just have to keep working hard, keep my head and doing what the gaffer asks of me and make it last as long as I can."