Liverpool ace Diogo Jota: My heading improvement comes from Ronaldo | OneFootball

Liverpool ace Diogo Jota says his heading ability has been influenced by Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

The forward believes his time with veteran Manchester United forward Ronaldo at international level has made a difference.

"The heading is hard to explain," said Jota to Liverpool's matchday programme. "I think you have to be there at the right time in the right space and fortunately for me that's been happening so I've just been trying to take the opportunities when they show up.

"Being about to train with players like Ronaldo with the national team and seeing the things he does is always helpful.

"But in the end it is up to you to try to be technically good whether the ball comes to your left, to your right or to your head."

Jota is line to return to the Liverpool starting line-up in the home Premier League clash against Southampton on Saturday having remained an unused substitute in the midweek Champions League win over former club Porto.

Roberto Firmino's recurring hamstring problem and the occasional rotation of Sadio Mane has meant Jota has started nine of 12 Premier League games this season.

And he said: "People have asked me whether I thought I could break into the established front three when I first came to Liverpool.

"Luckily for me I don't overthink things, so I never thought too much about it. I just thought about coming to this amazing club and doing my job in training sessions and then it's up to the manager to decide what to do.

"Obviously losing Bobby is not good news. We need everybody as there are a lot of games, especially now after this last international break of the year.

"We have just started a big cycle of fixtures and December will be huge so we need everybody. But it's one less player so some will get more playing time and it's up to us now to show that we can do the job."