Sparking an X-rated outburst from one of England's greatest-ever forwards would not have been on Diogo Jota's list of New Year resolutions.
Barely 24 hours into 2024, the Liverpool attacker had prompted filth and fury from former Newcastle United man Alan Shearer
Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka admitted there was contact with Jota and it was a penalty.
Debate instead rumbled for days with Jota being vilified for diving by a certain section of the game.
Jota:
"Listen, of course I saw some comments from ex-players and people who are paid to talk about situations,"
"The only thing I can say is even the keeper said it was a touch and I didn't feel the conditions to stay up. So that's it.
"Would I rather put the ball in the net than see Mo take a penalty? Yes, of course. That's what I like to do - to score goals. That's all I have to say"
Only Mohamed Salah has bagged more for Liverpool than the 16 Jota has managed. All the more impressive is that he has started only 17 games in the time
With Salah, currently on 18 goals for the season, on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations and in any case is now injured, the onus has been on the remaining quartet to delived
Jota added
"Mo is a decisive player for us,"
"He is always fit and always there and always assisting and scoring. We miss him, but we have the quality in our squad to share those goals that he would probably score by himself."
"This season it has been great for him,"
"Obviously in the last few games maybe he didn't score as often as he would have probably wanted, but we trust him. He has been decisive for the team, even in the games where he doesn't score.
"Maybe he isn't scoring as much as people probably want him to, but he has assists and that counts as well because we are a team and all we want is to win."
Jota continued
"I feel refreshed," says Jota. "It's always nice to have a few days away, especially at this time of year when it's very cold here!
"For me specifically, I don't think the break necessarily came at the right time because I was injured during December, but for the team in general it is a necessary break because of all the games we have been playing.
"We've basically been playing every three days which is a lot of games with a lot of intensity in those games.
"The human body needs this time to recover and then we go again. We know how it works - and it starts Sunday.
"Bournemouth are in really good form as well so we expect a tough game but hopefully we can play our game."
Jota then said
"I hope we can be in the discussion until the end,"
"We know how strong City are and how strong they can be in the second lap of the league. We just hope we can be part of the fight again, and hopefully we are above them in the end.
"But we know City are a very strong opponent and De Bruyne is a world-class player and one of the ones who can make a difference, like he did two years ago when we were in that discussion about the title until the last game.
He was decisive in that game (against Aston Villa). But, look, we also have those kind of players and there is a long way to go until we reach those decisive moments, so we just have to focus on the next few months first to try to be there at the end.
"We have a lot of games and a lot of hard competitions but we want it to be like two years ago and not like last year when we didn't perform the way we wanted to. It's exciting times."
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