DIOGO JOTA

He’s a lad from Portugal, better than Figo don’t you know…but did you know Diogo Jota’s name isn’t Diogo Jota? He was born Diogo José Teixeira da Silva and when he was playing football as a kid he had ‘Diogo J’ on the back of his shirt, maybe to save his parents a few euros on letters! The letter J is pronounced ‘Jota’ in Portuguese so Diogo J became Diogo Jota and it has stuck with him ever since. It also explains why he has DIOGO J above the number 20 on his Liverpool FC shirt rather than JOTA, not that any Kopite is bothered by what it says when he’s taking us to victory.

Before getting injured in the 2-1 win against Chelsea FC in October, Diogo had taken his goalscoring tally to 60 in 155 appearances for the Reds with over 10% of those goals (7) coming against Arsenal FC. He also has 21 assists, including two against the Gunners, and the Redmen have won 68% of the games he has played in, which is more than legends like Bobby Firmino (60%), Fernando Torres (52%) and Luis Suárez (50%). Diogo J celebrates his 28th birthday on December 4th and was born in the city of…

PORTO

The second largest city in Portugal, and also known as Oporto, is home to FC Porto, one of the Iberian country’s Os Três Grandes - The Big Three. In total, FC Porto has won 86 major honours including two UEFA Champions Leagues (1987 and 2004), two UEFA Cups (2003 and 2011) and two Intercontinental Cup (1987 and 2004), but they hate playing the Reds. In 10 meetings between the two clubs, Liverpool FC have never lost, winning seven of those games with a 5-0 UEFA Champions League win at Estádio do Dragão in 2018, Sadio Mané scoring a hat-trick, FC Porto’s record home defeat and the biggest margin of victory away from home for any English team in the knockout stages.Jürgen Klopp’s men subsequently won 4-1 in Porto in 2019 and 5-1 in 2021 when, in the home side’s line-up, was a current Anfield star. His name is Lucho, he came from Porto..! In addition to ex-coaches Pep Lijnders and Vítor Matos, Luis Díaz is one of two players Liverpool FC have signed from FC Porto, the other being…

RAUL MEIRELES

A central midfielder, Raul Meireles began his career at Boavista FC - Liverpool FC’s first-ever UEFA Champions League opponents back in 2001 - and spent six seasons at FC Porto before joining the Reds in the summer of 2010. Unfortunately it came during a period of turmoil for LFC under our previous owners and when Roy Hodgson was manager. Meireles initially struggled to make an impression as he was being used as a right-sided midfielder, but when LFC’s new owners FSG appointed Sir Kenny Dalglish as manager in 2011 things changed. Playing centrally, Meireles went on a run of five goals in six matches including the opener in King Kenny’s Anfield homecoming against Everton FC, a dipping volley from 25 yards out at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and the winner against Chelsea FC at Stamford Bridge. Meireles was subsequently voted as PFA Fans Player of the Year, but Liverpool FC couldn’t keep hold of him and he moved to Stamford Bridge in August 2011. He also won 76 caps for Portugal, which is 57 more than…

AMANDA DACOSTA

Although she was born in Katonah, New York, former Liverpool FC Women midfielder Amanda DaCosta qualified to play for Portugal through parentage and won 19 caps before retiring at the age of 27. A bundle of energy, she signed for the Reds from Boston Breakers in 2013 and played in every game as Matt Beard’s side won a maiden Women’s Super League title, notably scoring twice during a 4-0 success against Arsenal FC Women at the Emirates Stadium. DaCosta was also an ever-present when Liverpool FC Women retained the title in 2014. “It was an unbelievable couple of seasons for me at Liverpool,” she told Liverpool FC Magazine. “To win the league in my opening year was fantastic, but to retain it in the manner we did was incredible. Not only did I win the league in consecutive seasons but I was surrounded by a group of girls who became family to me over those couple of years.” DaCosta returned to the US to play for Washington Spirit in 2015 and was the second non-Portuguese born Liverpool FC player to be capped by Portugal after…

ABEL XAVIER

Almost 23 years after signing for the Reds, right-back Abel Xavier remains the most recent player to be directly transferred between Everton FC and Liverpool FC. Born in Mozambique, a Portuguese colony at the time, Xavier moved to Lisbon as a child before beginning his career in football at CF Estrela da Amadora. He joined the Blues in 1999, but crossed Stanley Park in January 2002 and scored on his Liverpool FC debut, a 6-0 win against Ipswich Town FC at Portman Road. Xavier also netted in a 4-2 UEFA Champions League quarter-final defeat to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, but became more of a squad player than a regular starter under Gérard Houllier and was loaned out to Galatasaray SK before signing for Hannover 96 in January 2004 having made just 21 appearances for the Reds. Capped 20 times by Portugal, Xavier also played for…

SL BENFICA

Portugal’s most supported club won back-to-back European Cups in 1961 and 1962 and, like rivals FC Porto, have won 86 major honours. Formed in 1904 as Sport Lisboa before a 1908 merger with Grupo Sport Benfica led to a name change, SL Benfica played on a dirt field until acquiring a grass pitch in 1913 and in 1950 moved to the original Estádio da Luz - the Stadium of Light. With a capacity of 120,000 it was the largest stadium in Europe, although the record attendance is estimated to be closer to 140,000 for a 1987 clash with FC Porto.

Three years earlier, Joe Fagan’s Liverpool FC had won 4-1 at Estádio da Luz in the European Cup, LFC fan Sven-Göran Eriksson was manager of SL Benfica at the time. The Reds had also emerged victorious there in 1978, skipper Emlyn Hughes scoring the winner in the European Cup quarter-final first leg en-route to retaining the European Cup at Wembley. Liverpool FC lost their first two visits to the new Estádio da Luz, opened in 2003, before winning a UEFA Champions League quarter-final 3-1 in Lisbon in 2022 with Darwin Núñez scoring for the hosts. Núñez is one of six players to have played for both clubs - amongst the others are Dean Saunders, Michael Thomas and Steve Harkness when ex-Reds skipper Graeme Souness was manager -while a player who came through the SL Benfica youth system is…

FÁBIO CARVALHO

Born in Torres Vedras - a municipality of Lisbon - Fábio Carvalho is a SL Benfica fan who moved to London with his family as an 11-year-old. He signed for Fulham FC two years later, after being spotted playing for South London youth side Balham Blazers FC, and was given a taste of Premier League football at Craven Cottage at the end of season 2020/21. Fulham FC were relegated, but 19-year-old Carvalho was given a chance in the no.10 role in The Championship and excelled, persuading the Reds to agree to sign him in January 2022, but he remained on loan in West London.

Fabio subsequently arrived at LFC in the summer of ‘22 and got a winners’ medal on his debut as the Reds beat Manchester City FC in the FA Community Shield. He also scored his first Liverpool FC goal in a 9-0 Anfield win against AFC Bournemouth and followed it up with a dramatic 98th minute winner against Newcastle United FC, but struggled to make an impact afterwards. Following loan spells at RB Leipzig and Hull City FC last season, Fábio signed for Brentford FC in August. Now aged 22, Carvalho was capped at international level by Portugal U21s, as was…

JOÃO CARLOS TEIXEIRA

Born in Braga, home of SC Braga who knocked Liverpool FC out of the UEFA Europa League in 2011, João Carlos Teixeira was a winger who arrived on Merseyside in January 2012. He had caught the eye when playing against LFC in the NextGen Series - a forerunner to the UEFA Europa League - for Sporting Clube de Portugal, whom the Reds also signed London-born Portugal U19 international centre-back Tiago Ilori from in 2013 and are the club Lisbon-born winger Rafa Camacho began his career at before signing for Liverpool FC, via Manchester City FC, in 2019. Teixeira made his LFC debut in a 3-2 win at Fulham FC in 2014 as the Reds challenged for the Premier League title under Brendan Rodgers, but made his other seven Liverpool FC appearances when Jürgen Klopp took charge. He scored his only goal for the club during a 3-0 FA Cup 3rd round replay against Exeter City FC at Anfield. Currently playing in China for Shanghai Shenhua FC, Teixeira also made two appearances for Arne Slot at Feyenoord during season 2021/22, but after leaving Anfield in 2016 he signed for FC Porto, former club of…

DIOGO JOTA

It was during season 2016/17, when Jota was a Club Atlético de Madrid player, that he returned to Portugal to play for FC Porto on loan and got his first taste of UEFA Champions League football, scoring his first goal in the competition in a 5-0 win against Leicester City FC. Diogo, who began his career at Paços de Ferreira, never actually played for Atléti. He was subsequently loaned to Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in 2017/18 and fired the Old Gold to Premier League promotion with 18 goals before completing a permanent move to Molineux. In total he struck 44 goals for Wolves, including nine in 14 UEFA Europa League games, before joining Premier League champions Liverpool FC in September 2020. A Carabao Cup and FA Cup winner in 2002, Jota scored the first goal of the Arne Slot era against Ipswich Town FC at Portman Road earlier this season and has netted 14 goals for Portugal in 46 appearances, which is a better goalscoring average than Figo don’t you know…