Liverpool 4-3 Villarreal: Mac Allister and Ngumoha star in another Anfield comeback

Liverpool came from two goals down to produce another memorable Champions League comeback at Anfield as they beat Villarreal 4-3 to keep their perfect record intact. 

Georges Mikautadze and Sergi Cardona had put Villarreal in a strong position by the 29th minute, but Alexis Mac Allister and Ronald Araujo levelled things up before the break.

Mac Allister scored his second after being teed up by the impressive Rio Ngumoha, with Florian Wirtz netting a confidence-boosting goal before Tani Oluwaseyi's late consolation. 

Andoni Iraola made six changes to the side that beat nine-man Brentford, though it was one of the players who remained that gifted Villarreal a shock fourth-minute lead, with Virgil van Dijk's wayward header back to Alisson pinched by Mikautadze, who tucked home from a tight angle. 

Ngumoha led Liverpool's fightback by causing havoc down the right-hand side, but it was Villarreal who doubled their lead with relative ease just before the half-hour mark when Nathan Saliba's pass carved open the hosts' defence, allowing Cardona to race through and slot into the bottom-left corner. 

However, Liverpool hit back quickly through Mac Allister, who glanced Kostas Tsimikas' in-swinging corner home, with the Argentine then firing inches wide moments later. 

And on the stroke of half-time, Liverpool were level. Ngumoha whipped a teasing ball into the penalty area that Cardona attempted to shield, but Araujo steamed in at the back post to nod past former Reds goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. 

Liverpool maintained their momentum early in the second half with Cody Gakpo and Wirtz testing Gulacsi before Trey Nyoni's arrowed drive whistled past the right post. 

The comeback was complete just after the hour when Ngumoha once again terrorised the Villarreal defence. This time he provided a pinpoint cross for Mac Allister to sweep home his second – and Liverpool's third – off the crossbar. 

Wirtz, who had yet to score for Liverpool this season, continued his good recent form with a left-footed finish into the bottom-right corner in the 68th minute, but Villarreal threatened a nervy finish when Oluwaseyi tucked in from Ayoze Perez's delivery, though the Reds held on to make it three wins from three in Europe this season. 

Iraola experiences Anfield magic in the Champions League

Ahead of kick-off, Iraola expressed the importance of building a winning feeling at Anfield, having failed to win at home in the Premier League since taking charge of the Reds, and he would have been fearing the worst when his side found themselves two goals down early on. 

Indeed, Cardona's goal, timed at 28:08, was the earliest Liverpool have been two goals down in a game in major European competition since April 2016 against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League (08:20). However, this is Anfield in the Champions League. 

Every time Liverpool have gone 2-0 down this early in a major home European match, they have come back to win – April 1976 vs Club Brugge (12th minute, won 3-2), October 1996 vs Sion (23rd minute, won 6-3) and April 2016 vs Dortmund (ninth minute, won 4-3) – with that trend continuing here. 

Two players, in Mac Allister and Ngumoha, took the game by the scruff of the neck, with the latter, at 18 years and 52 days old, becoming the third-youngest player to provide multiple assists in a Champions League game behind Warren Zaire-Emery against AC Milan (17y 231d) and Theo Walcott against Hamburg (17y 250d).

Ngumoha also completed seven of his eight dribbles, but Mac Allister popped up with two big goals. All eight of his strikes in the Champions League have come at Anfield, including one already this season against Atletico Madrid on MD1. 

Iraola will, however, feel there is plenty to work on ahead of this weekend's clash with in-form Brighton in the Premier League, but his team were worthy winners here, having finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.37 from their 22 shots to Villarreal's tally of 1.58 from 14 attempts.