Ruben Neves believes his dramatic winner against Ireland was written in the stars after scoring his first goal for Portugal while wearing the number of his good friend Diogo Jota.
Neves inherited the number 21 shirt for Portugal as a tribute to his close friend and former teammate, who died in a car accident along with his brother Andre Silva in July.
Neves and Jota played together for three years at Wolves and also teamed up for their country, winning the Nations League title in 2019 and again in June.
On Saturday it looked like Portugal’s perfect record in World Cup qualifying would come to an end. Ireland held on until the 91st minute, with Caoimhin Kelleher saving Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty.
But just when the Selecao seemed to have run out of ideas, Neves Kelleher came in front and nodded home Francisco Trincao’s inswinging cross.
Asked whether his goal would arrive this way, Neves – who showed off a tattoo of himself with Jota on his calf as he celebrated – told Sport TV: “I think so.
“My first goal for the national team, with this song… it couldn’t have happened in a better way.
“That desire and that passion that he had to be here with us… I said that each of us would inherit a little bit of who Diogo was, and today was one of those matches.
“It was a very difficult match, against a team that defended extremely low, with virtually no space. It had to be like this.”
90+7′ ENDS AT DEPARTURE
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