Indeed, Jota reached double figures for goals by his 21st Reds appearance, a tally that included a scintillating hat-trick away at Atalanta in the Champions League.
An untimely injury prevented him from continuing that start but he returned to clinical effect, racking up 21 strikes in all competitions as Jürgen Klopp’s side almost achieved a quadruple in 2021-22, lifting the Carabao Cup and Emirates FA Cup.
‘The slotter’ was vital to those triumphs, a brilliant cameo against Leicester City in the quarter-finals of the former followed with a tie-deciding double at Arsenal in the semi-finals, while there was an FA Cup winner in the last eight versus Nottingham Forest.
Though fitness misfortunes prevented Jota from always being able to feature in the seasons that followed, he continued to tot up goals and assists for the cause, relied upon by Klopp and his successor, Arne Slot.
A cool head on the pitch – just remember his 94th-minute Anfield decider against Tottenham Hotspur in April 2023 – and a respected and much-loved teammate off it.
What cruelly has proved to be his final flourish in football saw Jota become a Premier League champion and a UEFA Nations League winner.
The No.20 will be rightly immortalised for his contributions as part of Liverpool’s 2024-25 title-winners – the club’s 20th – with his trademark shimmy and strike in front of the Kop to seal victory in April’s Merseyside derby a poignant last goal of his life.
“To arrive at this particular season with the title that I’ve been chasing for a lot of years and in the best league in the world – for me where I dreamed to play as a kid – it’s a moment I will cherish forever,” he said.
“It is a remarkable achievement for a small guy that came from Gondomar, where I had this dream. To arrive at this moment was outstanding.”
More joy and special moments followed just last month as Portugal – Jota represented his country 49 times and 14 of his overall senior total of 150 goals came in internationals – lifted the Nations League trophy.
And he then celebrated marriage to wife Rute, with whom he had three children, on June 22.
“His name is Diogo,” rang the chorus of that very own supporter chant. And we’ll never forget it.
RIP Diogo Jota, 1996-2025
