Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr is peerless when it comes to inflicting damage on opponents, his manager Carlo Ancelotti said after the Br azilian scored twice in a spectacular 5-2 comeback win at Liverpool on Tuesday.
Liverpool had raced into a 2-0 lead at Anfield, but a double from Vinicius levelled the match before the break and laid the foundation for a thumping Uefa Champions League, last-16 first leg win.
"Vinicius is the most decisive player in world football today," Ancelotti said.
"There is no player with this continuity of action. He doesn't stop and keeps going. I hope he can continue like this."
Vinicius has become arguably his team's most important player after crowning his breakout season by scoring the goal that won Real a record-extending 14th European Cup title with a 1-0 win over Liverpool in last year's final.
He is the player with most goal attempts (28) and shots on target (15) in the Champions League this season and is the most fouled player in Europe's top five leagues (82).
Vinicius scored twice in three attempts against Liverpool on Tuesday and, at only 22, is already the second-highest scorer against the English team in the Champions League with five goals, one behind Karim Benzema, and ahead of Didier Drogba (four) and Frank Lampard (three).
After Liverpool went 2-0 ahead, Vinicius hit back with a sublime strike and doubled his tally with a fluke second after Liverpool keeper Alisson hit the ball straight at him.
"Vinicius was brilliant as always," Ancelotti said. "It was a historic win, mostly because if you consider where we played and how we started the game, falling two goals behind."
"But we never backed down and kept our cool, not panicked and we turned around a very difficult game."
After scoring 22 goals with 20 assists last season, Vinicius has already scored 18 in all competitions this campaign and was named player of the tournament at the Fifa Club World Cup in January, helping Real secure a record-extending fifth title.
Real produced a stunning comeback from two goals down at Anfield. It was Liverpool's heaviest home defeat in Champions League history, eclipsing a 3-0 loss to the same opponents in 2014.
In a re-run of last year's final, the first half was played at a ferocious pace, with the hosts racing into a fourth-minute lead through a superb Darwin Nunez flick — the quickest goal Liverpool have ever scored at Anfield in the Champions League.
The stadium erupted 10 minutes later when an horrendous mis-control from Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois let Mohamed Salah in for the second, with the Egyptian now Liverpool's all time top goalscorer in European competition.
Yet just as they did on several occasions en route to their crown last season, Real quickly turned things around, with Vinicius scoring one sublime strike and one lucky goal to level the match by the break.
A bullet Eder Militao header completed the turnaround for Real early in the second half, sapping all the life out of Anfield in the process.
The hosts' misery was not done there, however, as Benzema's double ensured Liverpool shipped five goals at home for only the third time this century in all competitions.
"It's an important night for us, we showed personality and scored the goals we needed. We want this Champions League title," Benzema told Movistar Plus.
"We struggled in the beginning, they started well, better than us, it was a big game. But we managed to turn things around. We are in a good position but football is tricky and we have to close the deal at home."
Klopp said in the run-up to the match that he had been unable to re-watch last season's final, which Real won 1-0, until this weekend, insisting doing so was torture, reliving how Liverpool had their chances to claim victory in the Paris showpiece.
"It's hard to sum it up straight after the game," Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson told BT Sport.
"Mixed feelings. Frustration with the result. For large parts of the first half we performed well and were unlucky to be level at halftime. We made too many mistakes. Real Madrid punished us every time tonight."