Rio Ngumoha marked his Premier League debut with a stunning last-minute winner for Liverpool in a 3-2 victory over Newcastle.
The 16-year-old sensation, who joined the Reds from Chelsea in 2024, was a heroic second-half substitute in a match for the ages at St. James’ Park.
Mohamed Salah played ball across the box, Dominik Szoboszlai dummied it before Ngumoha rifled into the bottom corner to spark wild scenes in the Reds camp.
Liverpool had squandered a 2-0 lead and look set to go home with just a point, but their teenage star’s heroics made it two wins from two.
In scoring the winner, Ngumoha is now the club’s youngest goalscorer in history, aged 16 years and 361 days – beating previous record holder Ben Woodburn, who was 17 years, one month and 14 days old when scoring his first goal in October 2016.
“Sandro’s doesn’t look good, he was in quite a bit of pain. I don’t know the full extent of it or Joelinton’s. They both look threatening for us in the sense they could be out for a while.”
He is also the second 16-year-old player in Premier League history to score a winning goal.
The winger follows in the footsteps of Wayne Rooney, who netted a winner for Everton against Arsenal in October 2002.
However, Ngumoha scored his just one day older than Rooney.
The goal came in his second senior appearance for Liverpool, who left St. James’ Park with all three points in a Premier League classic.
How Newcastle vs Liverpool unfolded
The match was dubbed as the ‘Alexander Isak derby’ amid the striker refusing to play for Newcastle as he tried to force through a move to Anfield.
Tensions were therefore expected to run high, and the drama was certainly on show throughout.
Ryan Gravenberch scored an excellent opener from outside the area to give Liverpool the lead before a huge moment changed the game.
Anthony Gordon went flying into Virgil van Dijk and after a VAR review, referee Simon Hooper showed him a straight red card.
Hugo Ekitike doubled the lead for Liverpool seconds into the second half as the visitors made the most of their one-man advantage.
However, Bruno Guimaraes restored hope into Newcastle with his header just before the hour mark.
William Osula then netted on 88 minutes to see the two sides draw level.
With 11 minutes added on, it looked as though each side would gain an extra point each.
But Ngumoha came off the bench and made history for Liverpool in dramatic scenes on Tyneside.
Liverpool have joined Premier League leaders Arsenal and Tottenham as the three sides to maintain a 100 per cent record this season.
However, their defensive issues have cropped up once again and the reigning champions left it late for a second match in a row.