Portuguese Abroad goals round-up: Red-hot Jota inspires Liverpool; Leão sets personal best with brace; Mota grabs vital goal for Monza; Sérgio Oliveira and Galatasaray in comeback draw | OneFootball

Diogo Jota is truly back in goalscoring form. The Liverpool forward ended a run of almost 30 appearances without a goal by scoring twice against Leeds United last week, and Jota followed that up with another double this weekend as the Reds overcame Nottingham Forest 3-2 at Anfield.

Rafael Leão is also a man in form, with the AC Milan striker getting both goals as the Rossoneri beat Lecce 2-0 in Serie A at San Siro. Elsewhere in Serie A, Dany Mota struck in Monza’s victory over Fiorentina, while in Turkey Sérgio Oliveira scored from the spot to keep Galatasaray on-course for the Super Lig title.

Diogo Jota had not scored for Liverpool in a year when he finally ended his drought with two in their 6-1 hammering of Leeds United last week. As expected, the former Porto man kept his place for the home match with Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday, and Jota demonstrated his renewed confidence by bagging another brace.

After a goalless first half, the Portuguese was alert enough to nod home from close range from Fabinho’s headed assist, giving the hosts the lead just moments after the re-start. Neco Williams pulled Forest level and Jota made it a frantic first ten minutes of the second period, restoring Liverpool’s lead with a well-taken finish on his left foot having found himself in space on 55 minutes.

Forest again levelled through Morgan Gibbs-White, but Mohamed Salah got a 70th-minute winner for Liverpool to ensure back-to-back wins in the Premier League. Speaking after the match, Jota said: “Yeah, I think goals lead to goals. I said that before the first goal, it’s always hard when it doesn’t come and arrive so easy, but then everything seems to flow and in the end it’s what we want.”

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp spoke glowingly about his Seleção star last week, and admitted after Saturday’s victory that Jota’s upturn in confidence is evident. “I think the second goal you really can see what goals do to offensive players,” Klopp said. “They give confidence.

“It was a super first touch, it didn't look like a massive chance in the first moment when you see three in the box, bam, first touch great and then the second one is just exceptional. He could have scored a third one in the first half.

“Again, that shows you can, as an offensive player, be involved in absolutely each defensive situation and be still a threat offensively. There's no if [or] or – you can do both and Diogo is doing that. That makes him, for us, so valuable and that's why he deserves that obviously.

“It's wonderful after the long, long time that he was out and now having these positive things – was involved in the Arsenal equaliser in a very important manner and now scoring twice a brace – is top.”

Leão showcasing aerial threat as Milan win

Rafael Leão has a Champions League semi-final to look forward to, but for now the Portuguese forward is focused on helping AC Milan enjoy a strong end to the Serie A season. Milan will play city rivals Inter in the last four of the Champions League next month, but this weekend saw the champions ease past Lecce 2-0 at San Siro.

Leão scored both goals for Milan, confirming his glittering run of form having played a starring role in the midweek European progress against Napoli. By scoring in each half on Sunday, Leão moved on to 12 league goals for the season – a personal career best for the 23-year-old, who continued to steadily improve his numbers each year.

The former Sporting man broke the deadlock five minutes before the break, and it was a rare headed goal by Leão to put his side in front. Sandro Tonali’s cross to the back post found Leão, who dispatched his headed finish back across goal past Wladimiro Falcone. Leão had threatened to cause more damage with his dribbling, and inevitably he doubled his tally on 74 minutes with a trademark solo run followed by a left-foot finish.

Leao’s demonstration of aerial prowess was no coincidence, according to both the player and his coach Stefano Pioli after the match. “The coach has been working with me after training sessions, as he wants me to score more with headers, as with my body I ought to be better at that aspect of my game. I’m happy,” Leão said.

“I always try to do what I did today for Milan, so if I don’t score, provide an assist or help my teammates. The most important thing today was to win, as it had been a while since we won a Serie A match.”

Pioli confirmed the extra attention to improving his forward’s threat on crosses, telling reporters: “He’s an intelligent lad. I think Rafa ought to go more at the back post from open play as well as on corners. He is 1.90m tall, there are few full-backs who can deal with him physically in those situations. There are all these little areas he needs to improve on and we’re working on them in training.”

Mota on-target as Monza win

Monza’s first season in Serie A has been highly successful, with a seemingly safe mid-table position representing a solid debut in the top flight. Sunday’s victory over Fiorentina was a memorable occasion in an historic season, as the Lombardy club came from two goals down to claim a 3-2 win to further distance themselves from the bottom third.

Early goals from Christian Kouame and Riccardo Saponara had visitors Fiorentina 2-0 with just 13 minutes played at the U-Power Stadium. However, Monza halved the deficit through Cristiano Biraghi’s own goal, before former Portugal youth international Dany Mota managed to latch into a long goal-kick and beat Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano to the ball and prod it home.

Mota was vital in the winning goal, which arrived just before the hour mark via a penalty converted by Matteo Pessina. The Portuguese beat one man before drawing a careless challenge by Sofyan Amrabat to earn the spot-kick, which Pessini took calmly to send Terracciano the wrong way to put Monza 15 points clear of the relegation zone.

The rest: Oliveira’s Galatasaray on-course for title

Galatasaray remain six points clear of Jorge Jesus’ Fenerbahce at the top of the Turkish Super Lig, after both sides failed to win this weekend. Gala were held to a 3-3 draw at home by Fatih Karagümrük on Saturday, after which Jorge Jesus and Fenerbahce were unsuccessful in closing the gap, also drawing 3-3 at home with Istanbulspor.

Galatasaray had been 3-1 down in the first half to Fatih Karagümrük, but Sérgio Oliveira’s penalty on the stroke of half time proved vital in leading the comeback. The goal was Oliveira’s third in the Super Lig since making the move from FC Porto last summer. Meanwhile, in the second tier veteran striker Marco Paixão is the division’s top goalscoerer with 17 after notching a penalty in Altay’s 1-1 home draw with Goztepe.

The lower leagues in England are closing ahead of the play-off stages, and there remains Portuguese involvement throughout the pyramid. Reading are in the Championship relegation zone with two matches remaining, having lost 2-1 at Coventry City despite Lucas João’s goal. In the National League, Notts County will have to settle for a play-off place having lost out on the title to Wrexham, which was confirmed despite Notts winning 5-2 at Maidstone with Ruben Rodrigues among the scorers.

In Belgium, there was a rare goal for former Sporting defender João Silva, but his Kortrijk side were beaten 4-2 at home by Union Saint-Gilloise. In Spain’s Segunda Division, there was a goal for Portuguese full-back Jair Amador as Real Zaragoza shared the points 1-1 at Eibar.

Monday evening’s game in the Polish Ekstraklasa saw Leonardo Rocha give Radiomak Radom an early lead against Leck Poznan, who fought back for a 1-1 draw. In Romania’s Liga I relegation battle, Marcelo Lopes scored for Voluntari as they earned what could be an important 2-2 draw with Petrolul 52.

Riga are the early pace-setters in Latvia after seven rounds of the new season, with Douglas Aurélio getting his second of the campaign in a 4-0 win at Super Nova. Finally, there were three Portuguese scorers in the Andorran 1a Divisió: Rodrigo Piloto scored in Penya Encarnada’s 2-1 win at Saint Julia; João Teixeira scored as Ordino lost 5-3 at home to Inter Club d'Escaldes; former Bragança midfielder Gabi got a consolation as UE Santa Coloma went down 3-1 to Atlètic Club d'Escaldes.