Portugal beat Azerbaijan 1-0 last night, but their manager Felix Santos kept Diogo Jota on the bench throughout.
For Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, this is perfect, as we need our flyer as fresh as possible upon his return.
Santos went with Wolves star Pedro Neto on the flank and brought Bruno Fernandes on as a sub, but allowed Jota the evening’s rest!
Portugal play Serbia and Luxembourg before the end of the international break – and three matches would have put Jota in a dangerous position – so the fact he sat this one out in its entirety is great.
Hopefully he’ll get a few minutes in the next two fixtures though, perhaps against Luxembourg, a weak opponent against whom he’d hope to score or assist.
With Roberto Firmino still injured and out of form anyway, Jota will likely be part of the front-three against Arsenal and Real Madrid at the start of April…
We’ll need Mo Salah and Sadio Mane at their very best – and with Jota a constant livewire – anything is possible.
Those two games could end our season, though. A loss in both and we could be out of the top four race and the Champions League.