Diogo Jota ended a long run without a goal as he scored in a comfortable win for Portugal, while two Liverpool youngsters registered assists for their countries.
While Jota’s campaign has been blighted with injury so far, it has been a tough run for the forward when he has been on the pitch, with a goal drought stretching five-and-a-half months.
His most recent goal for Liverpool came in the 2-2 draw with Man City on April 10, with none in his last 16 appearances at club level, of which eight have come as a starter.
For club and country, it was 20 games without a goal – until Saturday night, when he came off the bench to fire as Portugal beat the Czech Republic 4-0.
Portugal were already three goals up when Jota took over from Rafael Leao, and 15 minutes after coming on he sealed the four-goal triumph, firing home from Cristiano Ronaldo’s assist to put his country top of their UEFA Nations League group.
There were contrasting fortunes for two full-backs elsewhere, with Kostas Tsimikas and Conor Bradley both playing 90 minutes, the former in defeat and the latter in victory.
Tsimikas’ Greece suffered a 1-0 loss to Cyprus, while Northern Ireland clinched a late 2-1 win over Kosovo as Bradley shone in a right wing-back role.
Luis Diaz also started as Colombia took on Guatemala in a friendly in New York, with the winger playing 64 minutes as goals from James Rodriguez, Luis Sinisterra, Rafael Santos Borre and Yaser Asprilla secured a 4-1 victory.
On the youth stage, there were assists from Isaac Mabaya and Melkamu Frauendorf as England and Germany recorded high-scoring wins at under-19 level.
Mabaya’s cutback assist came for Oakley Cannonier, who fired twice as the England U19s thrashed Georgia 6-0 – with Luke Chambers and Lee Jonas coming off the bench – while Frauendorf won a penalty in Germany’s 5-1 mauling of Belarus.
James Balagizi started and played 71 minutes as the England under-20s beat Morocco 2-0, with Harvey Davies an unused substitute for the Young Lions.
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