Rio Ngumoha wasn't the only Liverpool star with ridiculous numbers
Rio Ngumoha wasn't the only Liverpool star who put up ridiculous numbers against Villarreal. A phenomenal performance came from one teammate.
Rio Ngumoha made headlines on Tuesday evening with a wonderful performance against Villarreal. The teenager broke some records: he’s now the youngest Liverpool player to assist in the UEFA Champions League.
His nine completed dribbles are up there with the most we’ve seen, too, while only Lamine Yamal has also assisted twice in the competition as a teenager this season. It was a breakout performance from Ngumoha and one that proves he can be decisive at the elite level.
We’ve been hoping for a display like that from the winger for around a year now. He’s still so young that it’s not a case of ‘finally’ but rather the proof everyone wanted that he’s the talent we thought he was.
But he wasn’t the only Liverpool player to offer up some proof.
Florian Wirtz changes the game
Florian Wirtz is actually very, very good. World-class, even. That would have been a strange statement to make a year ago because of how obvious it was. Now it's almost controversial.
But Wirtz was thrust into a Liverpool team that made little to no sense for him. The Reds essentially signed a footballer who was regarded as one of the best in the world and then put him in a system that wants a completely different player.
Andoni Iraola, though, is starting to fix that and we're now starting to see the best of Wirtz. That being a player who can run an attack, improving it tenfold even if he's not the one doing the goalscoring.
Though, he did do that bit against Villarreal, too.
Wirtz only played the second half against the Spaniards and the before-and-after here makes his influence as clear as day thanks to some ridiculous statistics from a player who only had half the game to work with. Just the fact that he was in the top 10 for completed passes across the fixture is evidence of that: Wirtz completed more passes that Ryan Gravenberch despite Gravenberch playing the same position for the first half and then playing the entire second half at right-back.
Only Ngumoha had more touches in the opposition penalty area than Wirtz. The German also won seven ground duels: only Ngumoha and Cody Gakpo won more.
But these aren't the crazy stats. It's Liverpool as a whole who shone when Wirtz got on the pitch, with just eight shots in the first half to putting up 14 in the second. They more than doubled their touches in the opposition box: 14 in the first half, 30 in the second.
This is the Wirtz effect. He entered the game for the second half as the big change and Liverpool were a team transformed in attack. That, ultimately, is the impact they signed him to have.
Even if he's not scoring or assisting, he's making the entire team better. And that is more valuable.
