EURO 2020 /// I N T E RV I E W
hen Portugal lifted the last European Championship trophy, Diogo Jota was watching on from home. Aged 20, and newly transferred to Atletico Madrid where he wouldn’t actually make a first-team appearance, the chance to play for his country at a major tournament was very much a distant dream for the boy from Porto. Five years is a very long time in football, however. Jota only made his debut for Portugal in November, but the Liverpool forward is already a key member of the team hoping to retain their title. He has enjoyed a superb debut season at Anfield following his Dhs212m move from Wolves last summer, and now the clamour to get the 24-year-old into Fernando Santos’ starting XI is practically febrile. Whisper it quietly, but some supporters would even prefer him to Cristiano Ronaldo. Jota had bagged 12 goals for Jurgen Klopp’s side by December before a knee injury halted his fine progress for as many weeks. In March, though, he simply picked up where he left off and ended the season strongly for both club and country – see three goals for Portugal in their World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg. Liverpool may have relinquished their Premier League title, but Jota won’t give up Portugal’s crown easily, despite being drawn in this tournament’s scary-looking Group of Death alongside the last two world champions in France and Germany,
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40 Euro 2020 guide
Above Jota proved 2020 could be good, in joining Liverpool Top right Portugal pals bridge a divide Above right The forward bagged 44 goals in 131 games at Molineux
plus a resurgent Hungary who held CR7 & Co to a surprise 3-3 draw at Euro 2016. But why wouldn’t Portugal be confident going into this tournament? With Ronaldo preparing to play in his fifth Euros, plus a deadly arsenal of stars that includes Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, not to mention former Wolves team-mate Ruben Neves, many regard this as Portugal’s strongest crop of players for some time. You can see why. For the first six iterations of the Euros, Portugal didn’t even qualify – then made the semi-finals at their first attempt in 1984. Since then, they’ve at least made that stage in four of their last six tries. Make no mistake: 2016’s victors have some serious chops in this competition. But what does Jota make of Portugal’s chances of repeating their success of 2016? How has he enjoyed his stint at Liverpool so far? And is he really like Ronnie? We asked him that and more... What do you remember about Euro 2004 that was held on home soil? It’s my first football memory! It was a big thing across the country. Portugal had reached the Euros final for the first time ever, but lost to Greece. I still remember watching the quarter-final game against England and not believing how Ricardo managed to stop a penalty without his gloves on. That was such a remarkable moment for me – I was in the living room
with my dad and my brother, and we were all so happy. We obviously weren’t expecting the Greek team to pour cold water on our dreams. But at least you managed to celebrate the title in 2016... That was different for me. I had just made it to Atletico Madrid [from Paços de Ferreira], and so I was already in pre-season in Spain and had to follow our whole campaign from there. I was so proud – I really think we deserved to be European champions in the end. Could you already picture yourself at the next Euros tournament? Not really, it didn’t cross my mind back then – making long-term plans isn’t for me. I enjoy thinking about my future, but only the immediate future. So much can happen in four years – I obviously had the dream and ambition of getting to the national team as soon as possible, though, and fortunately that ended up happening. I was supposed to play my first Euros last year but it was postponed, so now I’m looking forward to representing Portugal for the first time in a major tournament. Many people in Portugal criticised your move to Wolves back in 2017, but it seems to have paid off, doesn’t it? A short while ago, I saw a Transfermarkt study that had the Championship as the sixth-most valuable league in Europe. The
