When Diogo Jota steps onto a football pitch, the chances are that some form of magic will happen.
The Liverpool forward came on at half-time in Portugal’s friendly against Republic of Ireland tonight and didn’t need much time to make a telling impact.
The 27-year-old was denied a penalty following a VAR review, but he quickly put that frustration behind him with a simply sublime assist for Cristiano Ronaldo’s second goal of the match.
With an hour gone in Aveiro, Jota surged away from Will Smallbone and Dara O’Shea before curling an exquisite pass with the outside of his boot towards the ex-Real Madrid icon, who dispatched the ball beyond Caoimhin Kelleher to make it 3-0 to the home side.
The defenders of Turkey, Czechia and Georgia be warned – Liverpool’s number 20 is heading to Euro 2024 in sparkling form!
You can view Jota’s assist for Ronaldo below, taken from Sport TV’s match coverage and shared via @PushGoals on X:
Goal: Cristiano Ronaldo | 🇵🇹 Portugal 3-0 Ireland 🇮🇪pic.twitter.com/zGlQpHE7FP
— PushGoals (@PushGoals) June 11, 2024