Porto are the surprise team Diogo Jota hopes Liverpool avoid in Champions League
Diogo Jota hopes Liverpool avoid Porto
The Champions League draw takes place on Friday morning and several teams might be hoping to face FC Porto in the quarter-finals – but for Diogo Jota, he hopes it’s not Liverpool.
With the Portuguese top flight as a whole being somewhat weaker than the top five leagues around Europe, there can be a discrepancy between the level of quality Porto can field and the strength in depth other sides have.
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That didn’t stop them deservedly beating Juventus across two legs in the round of 16, but they are now the rank outsiders for the trophy.
Liverpool beat Porto in the 2018/19 quarter-finals, en route to winning the trophy, but Jota – who had a loan spell at the club in 2016/17 – says he doesn’t want to face them at this stage.
“Honestly no. I think not,” he told RTP (via Goal).
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“Because although Liverpool had a recent victory – I think they had Porto [previously in the Champions League knockout stages] and they managed to get past them – I think it would be a very complicated and very emotional game for me and I’d rather have another team.
“But in the final, yes. I’d agree to that.”
Jota is keeping the overall objective in mind, regardless of who the Reds face: he wants to become a champion of Europe.
That, he says, has been one of his dreams since before turning professional, and despite Liverpool’s desperate domestic form in 2021, there’s always the chance that the quickfire nature of the Champions League can present surprise results.
“I’ve always had this dream since I was a child. And although I had already participated in the competition with FC Porto, you never have the same ambitions that a club like Liverpool have in the competition, obviously.
“The Champions League is a knockout competition, I think anything can happen, and obviously much of our attention is focused there and the possibility of going far in the event.”
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