Diogo Jota: We have a lot of responsibility - I always want to do my best
Diogo Jota will head into his fourth season with Liverpool determined to deliver on the responsibility he feels to compete for honours.
The Portugal international recently passed the 100-appearance mark in a Reds career that has to date yielded Carabao Cup and Emirates FA Cup winner’s medals.
Injury hampered Jota’s 2022-23 campaign on a personal level but he ended it in positive fashion, with a double on the final day seeing him finish the term with seven goals and eight assists from 28 appearances.
And he is highly motivated to play his part in Liverpool collectively improving on a season that ended with Jürgen Klopp’s men in fifth place in the Premier League.
“As a player you obviously always want to achieve more and more,” the No.20 said in the May edition of WALK ON, the club’s official eMagazine.
“I feel I’ve reached a level that allows me to look back and realise I’ve completed a great journey to get here and I should be proud of where I am.
“Now it is for us to create new history from next season. I am always motivated to do my best possible and as a Liverpool player it comes with a lot of responsibility.
“We are a club that needs to fight for titles and next season we have a perfect opportunity to do that.”
Jota experienced Anfield as an opposition player with Wolverhampton Wanderers before he linked up with Klopp’s squad in September 2020.
He provided one of the moments of the 2022-23 season in L4 when he fired home at the Kop end to secure a stoppage-time 4-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur in April.
Explaining the emotion of playing at the stadium, the forward said: “When everyone is together at Anfield it is a massive obstacle to overcome.
“The fans’ support of the team is permanent and if they have anything to say it will be after the game and not during it. During games they genuinely try to help the team and have an impact on the game.
“I have been to Anfield as an opponent so I know how hard it is to play there. That’s the feeling we have as well because we can see in a lot of games how hard it is for the opponents to try to stay in the game or overcome everything that can happen.”
Read more from Jota in issue nine of WALK ON here.