Last season's top scorer has failed to hit the back of the net in the Premier League so far, but two goals in two games for his country will give Jota a boost heading into this weekend’s clash with Huddersfield.
However, the Portugal under-21 captain’s goals in the European Championship play-off semi-final matches against Poland were not enough to seal qualification, with the forward’s side coming up short 3-2 on aggregate.
Various Wolves internationals were in UEFA Nations League action during the past week, with Jonny an unused substitute as Spain lost 3-2 to Croatia. But the wing-back played 51 minutes in his country’s 1-0 friendly win against Bosnia and Herzegovina before being taken off with an injury.
After being left out of the last Belgium squad, Leander Dendoncker was recalled by Roberto Martínez, but he failed to make an appearance in his county’s two Nations League games against Iceland – which ended in a 2-0 win for Belgium – and a 5-2 loss to Switzerland, which saw Belgium miss out on the finals on goal difference.
Goalkeeper Rui Patricio and midfielder Ruben Neves both started for the senior Portugal side as they travelled to Italy in the Nations League. A 1-1 draw at the San Siro confirmed their country’s place in the finals, while neither player featured in Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday night.
Despite being called up to the Republic of Ireland squad, injury forced Matt Doherty to miss out on a 0-0 draw with neighbours Northern Ireland, as well as the Nations League defeat to Denmark, which saw the Republic relegated to League C.
Raul Jimenez played a full 90 minutes in the first of two back-to-back friendly matches between Mexico and Argentina but failed to score in a 2-0 defeat. The striker did not feature in the second game between the two sides which saw a repeat result.
Romain Saiss was an unused substitute in Morocco’s 2-0 victory over Cameroon in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. However, the midfielder did play the full duration of his country’s 1-0 friendly win against Tunisia.
Representing their countries at youth level were Ruben Vinagre, who featured for the Portugal under-20 side, and Morgan Gibbs-White, who played a part in all three of England under-19’s UEFA European U19 Championships qualifiers.
The 18-year-old saw 82 minutes of on-field action in 4-0 win against Moldova, before captaining the side against Iceland in a 3-1 win. Gibbs-White then came off the bench for the under-19s at half-time in a 1-0 loss against Turkey in their final qualification game. But despite the result, England progressed to the elite round by finishing second in group behind Tuesday’s victors.
