BY VOICE SPORTS TEAM
TEENAGER Rio Ngumoha, 16, became the youngest Liverpool player to start a competitive match or make an FA Cup appearance for the club when he did so in their 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Coach Arne Slot made eight changes to the side that were beaten 1-0 in the League Cup semi-final first leg loss at Tottenham Hotspur in midweek.
Ngumoha, taking the field on the left wing, in the third-round encounter was one of those. The teenager didn’t have the dream goal debut, but he was good enough for Slot to say: “Every time when he comes training with us we see what his qualities are. He can dominate one-v-one situations, he is very quick on his feet, he can change directions really fast.
“And I’m always happy if a player makes his debut that he shows what we see on the training ground as well, so the fans could see it. And I think the fans liked what they saw; you could feel this in the stadium in the first half already and when I took him out, [from] the reaction of the fans I think we could see they liked what they saw as well. So, special day for him – making your debut, win. He will sleep well, I assume.”
Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-half goals gave the Reds a 2-0 buffer, before strikes from Jayden Danns and Federico Chiesa after the break sealed Liverpool’s place in the fourth round.
The log leading Reds now turn their attention to the Premier League, where they’ll face the high-flying Nottingham Forest tomorrow.