'Ruthless' teen Ngumoha inspires Liverpool comeback in Champions League

Teenager Rio Ngumoha played “one of the best” matches of his fledgling career as he inspired a Liverpool comeback against Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Ngumoha set up three goals as Liverpool fought back from 2-0 down to win 4-3 for its third victory in the Champions League this season.

The 18-year-old, who was lively all night, was named player of the match.

“It’s up there with one of the best I’ve played,” Ngumoha told Amazon Prime. "I enjoyed myself and the team helped me a lot.

“Whenever I get the ball and there’s an opportunity to go one vs one or two vs one, I believe in myself. I’ll just keep going and be ruthless.”

Ngumoha thoroughly deserved his standing ovation when he was substituted off on 73 minutes.

“We have the best fans in the world and to hear my name chanted is a dream,” he said.

Ngumoha set up goals for Ronald Araujo, Alexis Mac Allister and Florian Wirtz.

Alexis Mac Allister was another orchestrator of the comeback, with two of the four goals, but he gave all the credit to Ngumoha.

“Rio … was amazing tonight. He made the difference. He was really important and I’m glad for him,” Mac Allister said.

“It’s clear the quality he has. Everyone knows. It’s easy to say he’s a really good player but he needs to focus on other things. He worked really hard off the ball.”

Ngumoha burst onto the scene last season when, four days before his 17th birthday, he made his senior Liverpool debut when coming on as a late substitute at Newcastle. He secured a 3-2 win by scoring with one of the last kicks of the game.

That made him Liverpool’s youngest Premier League goal scorer. And on Tuesday he became the team’s youngest to either score or assist in the Champions League.

“These records are amazing to break but winning is the most important,” said Ngumoha, who has made three appearances for England.

Liverpool coach Andoni Iraola is delighted Ngumoha is fulfilling his potential but believes there is more to come from the youngster.

“I am really happy with Rio," Iraola said. "He is trying to improve everything that we try to correct. He is playing a lot more on the right and he has adapted really well. He’s going more inside.

“He struggled defensively in the first half. The second half was much better. He’s becoming a more complete player. He’s still only 18.”

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha, left, challenges for the ball with Villarreal's Alberto Moleiro during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Liverpool and Villarreal in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha, left, challenges for the ball with Villarreal's Alberto Moleiro during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Liverpool and Villarreal in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister, centre, celebrates with Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha after scoring his side's third goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Liverpool and Villarreal in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beijing on Tuesday expressed “firm opposition” to the Trump administration’s sanctions on five Chinese companies connected to a former Google engineer accused of intellectual property theft.

The move “severely harms the legitimate rights and interests” of Chinese businesses, the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement. “The nature of this act is egregious. China firms opposes this.”

The ministry also urged the U.S. to "correct its erroneous practice” and said Beijing would take “necessary measures,” without specifying them.

It came a day after the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on five Chinese companies connected to Linwei Ding, who founded Shanghai Zhisuan Technology. The department said he had touted his experience with Google and claimed his company could replicate the American tech giant’s super intelligence infrastructure technology.

The startup incubation program MiraclePlus, which was sanctioned along with Zhisuan, gave seed capital in exchange for an ownership stake in Zhisuan, the State Department said. The other three Chinese entities facing penalties are linked to MiraclePlus.

Zhisuan “has knowingly engaged in, or benefitted from, significant theft of trade secrets of United States persons, which occurred on or after January 5, 2023,” the State Department said.

Ding was charged in 2024 with stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from Google while secretly working with two companies based in China. In January, he was convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco of several counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

A judge later dismissed the economic espionage charges and sentenced him to 12 months in prison. The Justice Department is appealing the dismissal of the economic espionage charges.

China’s commerce ministry said its AI development is “the result of long-term cultivation in basic research, continuous innovation investment, and adherence to independent scientific and technological innovation and open cooperation.”

The country's achievements have “nothing to do with the so-called ‘stealing of trade secrets,’” the ministry said.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

FILE - The U.S. and Chinese flag at the Great Hall of the People on May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - In this May 1, 2019, file photo a man walks past a Google sign outside with a span of the Bay Bridge at rear in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)