Seleção stars return: Diogo Jota and Ricardo Pereira make comebacks | OneFootball

Great news for Portugal manager Roberto Martínez this weekend as two Seleção internationals made their long-awaited returns from injury in the Premier League.

Ricardo Pereira featured for Leicester City on Saturday for the first time this term, having been out since pre-season with an Achilles injury. On Monday evening Diogo Jota, missing since October, also made his comeback for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield.

Both players were ruled out of the World Cup well ahead of proceedings in Qatar. Pereira ruptured his Achilles during Leicester’s clash with Spanish side Sevilla in pre-season last July, but made his gradual return in training matches at the club’s facilities last week. “Ricardo has looked great, so he’ll come into the squad, which is great news for us,” manager Brendan Rodgers said ahead of the weekend’ match with Tottenham Hotspur.

The meeting proved highly successful for the Foxes, who ran out 4-1 winners over Spurs at the King Power Stadium. Pereira’s moment arrived in the 88th minute when he replaced James Maddison, earning a warm reception from fans at the club where he was voted Player of the Year in 2018-19.

“You sense the crowd when he (Ricardo Pereira) came on,” Rodgers said after the win. “For him to get back, he’s worked so hard. To have a player of that quality available for us, is fantastic. It just keeps pushing us, everyone has got to perform, with players coming back, adding competition to the squad.”

For Jota, a frustrating spell on the sidelines since October came to an end during Liverpool’s 2-0 Merseyside derby win over Everton on Monday. A calf injury suffered against Manchester City a month before the World Cup ruled the former Porto man out of the Seleção’s bid to become world champions.

Jota was given 20 minutes by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, coming on for ex-Benfica man Darwin Núñez as Liverpool recorded a much-needed win. The Portuguese has been a valuable member of the squad since arriving from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020 and was rewarded with an improved contract at the start of the season.