Cristiano Ronaldo plan comes at expense of Liverpool star Diogo Jota at Euro 2024

It threatened to be a frustrating night for Portugal as they got their Euro 2024 campaign underway against the Czech Republic.

Touted as one of the favorites for the tournament, Portugal looked as though they would have to settle for a 1-1 draw in their opener in Group F. Francisco Conceicao eventually found the winner moments after Liverpool star Diogo Jota looked to have won it for his nation.

The 27-year-old showed the poaching instincts Liverpool fans have come to expect from him as he headed home after Cristiano Ronaldo’s own effort came back off the post. Unfortunately for Jota, his teammate was deemed to have been offside, denying him what would have been a brilliant moment.

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Not only that, but Jota had been forced to settle for a place on the bench after Ronaldo had been favored over the Liverpool forward for what was an historic landmark. Ronaldo became the first player to appear at six European Championships.

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star already has the record for the most goals at the tournament (14), as well as the most appearances, having played for the 26th time in the competition. Jota though would have every right to feel aggrieved at not getting the nod over the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

He had been preferred to Ronaldo in Portugal’s first warm-up game against Finland ahead of the tournament, and scored from the penalty spot in a 4-2 victory. He scored again in the following game, which ended in a 2-1 defeat to Croatia, before Ronaldo returned to the starting XI for the final warm-up against Ireland, with the 39-year-old scoring twice in a 3-0 win.

He couldn’t find the net against the Czechs though, and that almost came back to haunt Portugal when they fell behind to a Lukas Provod goal just after the hour mark. A Robin Hranac own goal brought them level a seven minutes later, before Conceicao rescued the three points in stoppage time.

Liverpool.com says: Jota was very impressive from the bench when he came on, and that should give Roberto Martinez some food for thought. Any Liverpool fan will tell you just how dangerous he can be when given the chance.

Whether he would be brave enough to drop Ronaldo though is another matter. We saw at the World Cup in 2022 how disruptive that decision can be, but if he isn’t scoring, there are players who will make more of an impact on the game, especially Jota.