Iraola urges Liverpool teenager Ngumoha to stay grounded after Champions League starring role

Andoni Iraola has urged Rio Ngumoha to tune out the noise surrounding his rapid rise after the 18-year-old produced a man-of-the-match display — including two assists — in Liverpool’s Champions League victory over Villarreal.

The performance came just days after Ngumoha came off the bench to influence the outcome at Brentford, continuing a run of form that has elevated the teenager from promising prospect to genuine first-team contributor in a matter of weeks. Ngumoha joined Liverpool from Chelsea’s academy in 2024 and made his senior debut in the FA Cup in January of last year.

“I think every player has to focus on performances, on keeping doing well and improving the things he can improve,” Iraola said. “The outside noise, when it’s good, when it’s bad, I think it affects — obviously — but we have to therefore not be affected by those things.”

The Liverpool head coach acknowledged that praise and criticism are inevitable companions to form, but stressed that neither should be allowed to distort a young player’s focus. “When you do well they are going to praise you, when you do bad there are going to be critics — but don’t let those things affect too much the performance, which in the end is the most important thing.”

Ngumoha’s emergence has been part of a broader trend at Liverpool this season, with fellow academy graduates Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas also logging significant minutes as Iraola carefully manages the workloads of his more experienced players. The head coach believes the group of young players are feeding off each other’s success.

“You can feel it straight away, even in pre-season — the ones who played the games, you could feel after their performances they were looking at each other and praising each other,” Iraola said. “When they see one of them getting a start in the Champions League or getting a start in the Premier League, maybe it’s not themselves, but they feel it like, ‘OK, I’m close to being there’.”

Iraola also pointed to the experienced figures within the squad as a resource the younger players should lean on, with Virgil van Dijk cited as one of the senior references available to the club’s rising defenders.

Ngumoha and his teammates face a different kind of test next when high-flying Brighton visit.