Rio Ngumoha, Liverpool’s 16-year-old forward of Nigerian descent, wrote his name into club history with a stunning 100th-minute winner to seal a 3-2 victory over Newcastle United in a pulsating Premier League contest at St James’s Park, Soccernet.ng reports.
For much of the evening, the Magpies embodied the defiance their supporters demanded.
Before Ngumoha came off the bench to steal the show in the closing stages, the game was already full of drama and enough talking points.
Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães drove Newcastle forward, unsettling the champions before Ryan Gravenberch’s precise finish gave Liverpool the lead against the run of play.
Anthony Gordon’s reckless challenge on Virgil van Dijk, punished with a straight red card after a VAR check, turned the tide further.
Seconds later, Hugo Ekitike, jeered all night after rejecting Newcastle to join Liverpool, silenced the home crowd with a composed strike to make it 2-0.
Yet Newcastle refused to buckle. Guimarães powered in a header to restore hope, before substitute William Osula calmly equalised in the 88th minute, sparking wild celebrations inside St James’s Park.
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Then came Ngumoha’s moment. Introduced late on, the teenager showed remarkable poise well beyond his years. With the game deep into stoppage time, Dominik Szoboszlai dummied a cross, the ball fell to Ngumoha, and he swept his finish beyond Nick Pope. It was a decisive strike that made him Liverpool’s youngest ever Premier League goalscorer.
The win sees Liverpool join Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur as the only teams to have won their first two matches in the 2025-26 Premier League season.
Born in England to Nigerian parents, Ngumoha has already represented England at youth level but remains eligible for Nigeria.
The youngster's quality and recent contributions will have placed him firmly on the radar of both the Three Lions and the Super Eagles.
With players such as Ademola Lookman successfully switching allegiance to Nigeria, Ngumoha’s brilliance is likely to reignite debate about his international future.
