Liverpool star Diogo Jota ended a long wait for a goal as the Reds beat Leeds United on Monday, and the Portugal star revisited the advice offered to him by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The former Wolves man started the 2021-22 season like a train, but injuries and bad luck saw him hit a wall when it came to adding to his goal tally. He had gone more than a year without a league goal ahead of the trip to Elland Road, last netting in a draw with Manchester City in April 2022.
That dismal streak finally ended in a huge 6-1 win for Liverpool against Javi Gracia's side. After setting up Mohamed Salah's goal in the first half, Jota added two of his own after the break.
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Jota was asked about the notion of "opening a ketchup bottle". It's a reference to advice from Ronaldo that - as Jota himself earlier put it - "When the first drop comes out, everything comes out".
"That's one of the sentences Ronaldo said and it really stuck in my mind all these years," Jota explained. "I think football is unpredictable, and these are the things we like in this football game. Things can change very quick."
"Yes and no" was Jota's response when asked about whether the win at Leeds rekindles the Reds' faint top four hopes. "We have great results this season, great scorelines - 7-0, 9-0. So we have these results before but we just need to stick with our feet on the ground because the next one is a completely different game."
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First-half goals from Cody Gakpo and Salah put Jurgen Klopp's side two goals to the good, only for Luis Sinisterra to give Leeds hope early in the second half. That hope was quickly extinguished, though, with Jota striking twice either side of a second for Salah, with substitute Darwin Nunez adding a late sixth.
"I think especially second half we played really well although we conceded that goal," Jota said. "We kept possession a lot of the time, we tried to find ourselves in good positions. We scored great goals and deserved the win."
"Some games we looked really good and others we cannot really click, especially away from home. But that is part of the past and what we can do is do things like tonight - improve, and do games like this because we are able to."
After the "great relief" of his goals, Jota will have a chance to add to his tally during the run-in. Liverpool are up against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, followed by a midweek trip to West Ham on April 26.
