Van Dijk urges Liverpool hero Ngumoha to 'stay humble'
Virgil van Dijk wants Rio Ngumoha to enjoy his dream Liverpool debut, but has urged the 16 year-old to "stay humble".
Ngumoha scored a 100th-minute winner shortly after coming off the bench for his Premier League debut against Newcastle United.
Liverpool had gone 2-0 up at St. James' Park, where Anthony Gordon was sent off late in the first half, but Newcastle – playing without Liverpool target Alexander Isak – battled back to level the scores through Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula.
Yet having not had a shot between the 46th minute, when Hugo Ekitike put them two to the good, Liverpool came up with the goods in the final knockings when Mohamed Salah's centre found its way to Ngumoha, who curled home brilliantly.
Just four days short of his 17th birthday, Ngumoha became the club's youngest ever goalscorer, while he is the fourth-youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, after James Vaughan (16 years, 270 days), James Milner (16 years, 356 days) and Wayne Rooney (16 years, 360 days)
"It’s a dream debut for him," Van Dijk said. "We stayed calm towards the end, tried to find the right solution to score a goal.
"I’m very pleased for Rio. He has to work hard and stay humble but he has to enjoy it – you can’t take these nights for granted."
Ngumoha is only the second 16 year-old to score a winning goal in a Premier League game, after Rooney in October 2002 for Everton vs Arsenal; he was one day younger (16 years, 361 days) than Rooney was that day 23 years ago.
While Newcastle will no doubt have felt hard done by given how it battled back to 2-2, Van Dijk feels Liverpool played into the Magpies' hands with some sloppy defending.
"We all know it’s a difficult place to come," he said. "There was a lot put on the fire this week, especially to get Newcastle fired up.
"It was expected. For us it was disappointing we conceded off two set-pieces. It shouldn’t happen, but overall a great three points, we move on.
"The pressure was put on. They had the quality. If you look at the traditional top six here last year, there’s only a couple that managed to beat them. I enjoy these atmospheres; I was looking forward to it, but we could have made it a little bit easier. We managed to get the three points, and we move on."
This was the first time Liverpool shipped two goals while its opponent was down to 10 men in the Premier League since December 2001 against Arsenal, while the Reds have now thrown away a 2-0 lead in both of their opening top-flight matches this season, albeit they have nevertheless taken maximum points.
Newcastle was not helped by Gordon's red card, with the England attacker dismissed by Simon Hooper after the referee consulted the pitchside monitor.
Gordon lunged in late on Van Dijk, who was seen with scratches down the back of his calf.
"I said to him [Gordon] if it’s not a sending off, then I don’t understand football," Van Dijk said. "I felt it was strange the referee had to go to the monitor."
