Rio Ngumoha was the outstanding Liverpool player as Andoni Iraola's side came from behind to beat Villarreal in the Champions League, continuing his exciting trajectory

"If you want to put someone one versus one then Rio is one of the best players you would choose."

Those were the words of Andoni Iraola after the Liverpool number 73, Rio Ngumoha, starred against Brentford at the weekend. A few days later, against Villarreal, he was even better. Ngumoha had 12 separate touches in the Villarreal penalty area and completed seven dribbles in total. He only gave the ball away four times.

In doing so, Opta said, Ngumoha became only the fourth player on record to complete seven or more dribbles in multiple Champions League games as a teenager, alongside Arjen Robben, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lamine Yamal. Convoluted though that might be, it isn't bad company to be keeping.

"Ngumoha was magnificent tonight — such a threat, and he dedicated himself to his tasks," Daniel Sturridge, working as a pundit on Amazon Prime, gushed.

"On the ball, this kid has so much potential, and I say kid, but he’s a young man. He has so much quality, and it’s stuff that you can’t teach, to be honest.

"What he does with the ball at his feet, that is God-given ability, and his hard work on the training pitch, doing things day in and day out. Being ruthless is what he said in his interview, and I like that. He wants to be decisive, and I love that about him."

Raheem Sterling, a player who Sturridge starred alongside, is one comparable player. Like Ngumoha, he was electric and quickly found his feet in senior soccer.

Once it clicked for Sterling, the goals and assists came regularly, and Ngumoha will have to make them flow too. As he showed here, however, he has all the tools required.

"For us, it is a privilege to have Rio in the team because he has just become 18," Iraola said on Saturday.

It is obvious that he is young, of course, but it is worth reflecting on that. Not 19 until next August, he is already capable of standing out on European nights like these.

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There is so much more to come, as well. Ngumoha told reporters at the Gtech that he likes playing on the right because it makes him more "unpredictable", and Villarreal left-back Sergi Cardona certainly had no answer.

"It’s up there with one of the best games I’ve played, I think," Ngumoha admitted. "I enjoyed myself out there. The team helped me as well a lot and I enjoyed it."

There wasn’t always that much in terms of defensive contributions, especially during the first half, which didn’t help Ronald Araujo. With that much end product, though, Iraola didn’t really have any grounds to complain.