Virgil van Dijk insists there is still ‘much more to come’ from Rio Ngumoha after his impressive performance, but is critical of his own Champions League showing.

Ngumoha chipped in with two assists as Liverpool battled back from 2-0 down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield on Tuesday evening, with the visitors grabbing a two-goal cushion through Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona in the first half-hour before Liverpool levelled the affair just before half-time, with goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Ronald Araujo.

The second half saw Liverpool take a complete grip of the game, with two quick goals seeing them comfortably ahead before the 70th minute; the first allowing Mac Allister to secure his brace, and the second being a cool finish from the struggling Florian Wirtz. Tani Oluwaseyi did grab one back with three minutes remaining, but it proved nothing but a consolation for Villarreal.

An impressive comeback by the Reds, with 18-year-old Ngumoha receiving plenty of praise for his performance, with the youngster playing on his less natural flank, down the right wing.

Van Dijk spoke highly of Ngumoha after the win, hailing the youngster for his ability to learn from senior players and really causing the opposition issues on the night. He said: “He’s pretty electric at times and he showed it again.

“He was a complete threat constantly, and their defender had a tough time.

“A few senior players (have helped him). I would say Cody Gakpo is definitely part of that. But everyone has that role in order to help the youngsters in the group, the players who have not had so much experience.

“Everyone is chipping in, but for him to work with Mo (Mohamed Salah) last year was obviously massive as Mo was one of the best wingers at the club and experienced everything so why not soak in all the information and show it on the pitch and show your own qualities?

“I think he has shown it this season, but there is still much more to come.”

Van Dijk on his own ‘poor’ performance

Van Dijk wasn’t quite as complimentary of his own game, though, with the Liverpool and Netherlands captain making a serious error in the fourth minute which saw Villarreal go ahead.

Misjudging a headed back pass to Alisson Becker, Mikautadze collected the ball inside the Liverpool box before poking an effort into the far corner, leaving the usually cool and calm van Dijk with, well, egg on his face.

But the central defender owned the mistake, won the game, and had this to say after the match.

“It was a terrible start. I think the saying is you fight an uphill battle and as a defender it is pretty difficult to come back from it.

“I tried, but it was a bad day at the office personally, but we did it together with 11 players. We turned it around, and that’s the main thing.

“Unfortunately in life these things can sometimes happen. Fortunately, it didn’t happen too many times in my Liverpool career, but tonight I was not the best. But we won, and it’s not about me; it’s all about us. We got the three points.”

Collected even after giving away a goal, van Dijk accepted his mistake and was pleased to see his side still able to come away with all three points, continuing their unbeaten start to the Champions League campaign.

Liverpool are desperately looking to tie Ngumoha down as the youngster continues to sparkle, but talks are still ongoing, with no agreement having yet been reported.