Diogo Jota has explained how he and fellow Liverpool super sub Kostas Tsimikas masterminded their equaliser against Nottingham Forest.
The Portuguese star scored with his first touch as he headed in the Greek fullback’s corner kick to snatch at 1-1 draw at the City Ground. New Zealand striker Chris Wood had given the hosts a first-half lead, sending supporters into a frenzy. Forest were dreaming of emulating Leicester City’s Premier League title win in 2016 – or at least being part of a miraculous title race.
But Arne Slot continues to make smart choices on the Reds bench and he proved his worth again. However, the Dutchman was not the one taking credit for the equaliser goal even though he brought both Tsimikas and Jota on with 25 minutes to go. Speaking with TNT Sports at full time, Jota said: “I actually said to him [Tsimikas], we were watching the cup goal two or three years ago where he passed to me, we were on the touchline and I said let’s go recreate the goal. He took the corner and and it was a goal, everything went right, but I’m not totally happy because I think we could’ve won.”
His strike continues his stellar record against Nottingham Forest – seven goals in his last seven appearances against them. But Jota thinks this run of goals is merely a coincidence. He said: “I think it is just a coincidence, I love to score goals. I score with my first touch today which gives the team momentum but I had two more chances I could’ve given us three point, but I couldn’t.”
Slot was thrilled with the impact his two subs made – who both came on for Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson. He said: “You need to be a bit lucky with that [substitutions]. We took Ibou [Konate] out at that moment who is normally a big threat on set pieces but we all know Jota can score a goal and Tsmikas has a good delivery. We brought them in to score a goal but they really did it after 20 seconds.”