This weeks edition of Próxima Jornada Player of the Week goes to Wolverhampton Wanderers attacker Diogo Jota!
The 23-year-old has had a fantastic week, managing to score an incredible 5 goals in 2 games over the space of 3 days in the Europa and Premier League.
His first footballing involvement this week came on Thursday in the first leg of Wolves’ Round of 32 clash with Espanyol. He was on the spot to poach home after a fantastic assist from former Benfica man Raúl Jiménez after just 15 minutes. His second against the Barcelona club was an absolutely wonderful move, Doherty slid through an inch perfect pass which Jota latched onto before squeezing it home. His third goal to complete his hat-trick was the pick of the bunch. He cut in from the left, evaded his opponent before unleashing a right-footed strike from outside the box into the bottom corner.
You can watch Diogo Jota’s exploits against Espanyol below, courtesy of BT Sport.
Incredibly this was Diogo’s 2nd consecutive Europa League hat-trick after the Porto born man also grabbed 3 against Besiktas. He currently sits joint-top in the Europa League goalscoring chart, with 6 goals and the best MPG ratio, averaging just 40 minutes per goal.
3 days later, he was in action in the Premier League as his side played host to Norwich City. It was here that he continued his white-hot scoring streak, bagging both Wolves 1st and 2nd goals on 19 and 30 minutes respectively. He started the second-half just as he ended the first, moving the ball with purpose and precision. His parting gift before being substituted was a shot that cannoned back off the post for Raúl Jiménez to put Wolves 3-0 up and ensure all 3 points for the Midlands club. He was replaced on 63 minutes by Pedro Neto and was given a whole stadium ovation. After playing 83 minutes midweek and 63 minutes on Sunday, means he has scored 5 goals in just 146 minutes this week, averaging a goal every 29.2 minutes.
This represents a welcome return to form for Diogo who had failed to score a goal since his hat-trick against Besiktas on the 12th of December. He has came back to form in the best way possible and if he can continue in this fashion toward the end of the season whilst avoiding injury, a Seleção call-up for Euro 2020 is surely on the cards.
