Diogo Jota has expressed his frustration following Liverpool’s Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle United. The Reds suffered a 2-1 defeat at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, dashing their hopes of securing the season’s first major silverware.
Despite Federico Chiesa’s stoppage-time goal giving Arne Slot’s team a glimmer of hope to claw back from a two-goal deficit, it wasn’t enough, and Liverpool now heads into the March international break off the back of a disheartening result. Jota, who started the match under Slot’s direction, squandered a chance to level the score just before the interval and was a poor performer.
Substituted early in the second half for Darwin Nunez, the Portuguese forward is currently on a 10-game streak without finding the net in any competition. In the aftermath of the Wembley setback, Jota reached out to the Liverpool faithful via social media with a heartfelt statement.
Liverpool’s No. 20 emphasized that the squad’s attention will pivot to the Premier League title chase after the international break. “Not good enough today,” Jota posted on X, previously known as Twitter. “A very disappointing week for everyone that supports [Liverpool]. We will be back soon to fight for the league.”
The Reds are set to resume their campaign on April 2, welcoming Everton to Anfield for a Premier League clash. This Merseyside derby marks the beginning of their last nine league fixtures as they pursue the club’s 20th top-flight crown.
Arsenal’s victory against Chelsea on Sunday resulted in Liverpool’s advantage at the summit of the Premier League table being trimmed down to 12 points. But the Reds are still on track to get over the line with several games to spare.
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“Disappointing result, disappointing performance,” Slot said in his post-game press conference at Wembley. “So, completely different than I felt after the Paris Saint-Germain game. Losing twice in a row is something I think we do for the first time.
“But that probably also comes with going into the latter stages of a tournament, so facing Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle in a final are two very good teams, both in their own styles. But very difficult teams to face, because we already knew from the game at St. James’ Park how difficult it is to beat them.
“It was a tough week but it was also a week where we extended our lead [in the Premier League] to 12 points from it being 10, so it wasn’t all negative. But the last two were definitely not the way we wanted it to be.”
Liverpool.com says: Jota was really poor at Wembley and he has been struggling for form now for a fair while. Come the summer, the Reds could do with bringing in another option, with Darwin Nunez having failed to ignite as well.
