Rio Ngumoha has rare 'special quality' as Arne Slot praises Liverpool teenager's Mohamed Salah-esque goal

Ngumoha opened the scoring with a clinical, curled effort that mirrored the trademark finishes of Salah. After scoring a stunning goal, the youngster received the ultimate praise from his manager, who noted the similarities between the teenager’s strike and the trademark finishes of the club’s legendary Egyptian winger. Slot was full of admiration for the way Ngumoha handled himself at Anfield.

"He has such a special quality, which you don’t see much in football anymore, dominating the one-vs-one situation," Slot told reporters. "That’s exactly what he did when he scored his goal. Making the ball free by twisting and turning and then hitting it in – like a Mo Salah finish, I would say!"

The match against Fulham followed a familiar pattern where Liverpool struggled to maintain control, but Ngumoha's moment of brilliance changed the complexion of the afternoon. Slot admitted that the individual quality of the 17-year-old was the catalyst for the victory, preventing Fulham from capitalising on their own period of dominance before Salah eventually made it 2-0.

"That's something different than what we've usually seen with us," Slot said. "I think we started off really well, first 20 to 25 minutes we were creating not the biggest chances but we had a few good moments in and around their penalty box. Then there were indeed five to 10 minutes where I felt like, ‘OK, Fulham is now coming into the game’ and we all know, because you guys, I see always the same faces [in the press conferences], we all know what’s going to happen then with us: we concede. Today, at last, exactly at that moment Rio had his moment and that tells you how crucial goals are and how crucial momentum is. Because what if we, in the same game today, would have conceded in that 10 minutes? It would have been a completely different game."

With a massive Champions League quarter-final second leg against PSG looming on Tuesday, the question on every Liverpool fan's lips is whether Ngumoha will be thrown into the starting line-up.

"Now the question, of course, is: can he do this two days later again? That's another question. But would he be able to play and perform at that level? Yeah. I play him because I see him as one of the players we are having," Slot continued. "It's not like he's less or in the beginning of the season he was a young player getting some experience with the first team. But now he's just someone I can pick for any game. So, also the one on Tuesday. But I think in general, that's not to say about Tuesday, but in general expecting from a 17-year-old that he can play three games in six days, you could question if that's realistic, especially for the ones that have been there in Paris and saw that intensity."

While much of the talk surrounding Ngumoha focuses on his long-term potential, Slot believes the player is ready to make a significant impact immediately. The Dutchman highlighted that his increased playing time is a direct consequence of the "end product" he is now showing on the training pitch and during his appearances in the Premier League against elite opposition.

"Yeah, but not only the long future, also the near future. I think I’ve said a few weeks, maybe months ago, one or two months ago, that his playing time would increase because he got stronger and stronger, showed more and more when he came in, but also in training sessions, that it wasn’t only a nice trick, but there was more and more end product to what he did," Slot concluded.

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