Liverpool striker Jota explains substitution request in Portugal defeat | OneFootball

Liverpool striker Diogo Jota admits he asked to be substituted during Portugal's Nations League defeat to Spain.

Jota has revealed he asked to be taken off during the Nations League loss due to fatigue.

The 25-year-old made his first start of the season away to Everton at the start of September, having missed the first month of the campaign due to a hamstring issue that was aggravated during pre-season. Jota has since featured in Champions League games against Napoli and Ajax before reporting for international duty.

"I didn't have a pre-season. It's only my second game as a starter this season and I was already feeling a little tired at the end of the season," he told O Jogo.

Providing further context to this change, Portugal coach Fernando Santos said: "Jota asked to leave. It doesn't matter now, but that wasn't the replacement I was going to make. I was going to put Jota in a different position so that the team could go up and have more possession. I brought in Vitinha and João Mário to have more possession of the ball and to play. We couldn't and we started to retreat. Still, we had two great chances, but we didn't score."