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Owen makes big statement about Firmino and Jota

Firmino, Jota
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Ex-Liverpool man Micheal Owen has been left impressed with Jota’s start at Liverpool and made a claim involving Firmino.

Owen has claimed Jota would start ahead of Firmino if Liverpool had the Champions League final tomorrow.

The Portuguese has had a flying start to life at Anfield since his 45m move from Wolves over the summer.

Not much was expected from Jota but the youngster has blown many away with his performances for the Reds.

In 13 total appearances so far, the Portuguese has bagged an impressive eight goals – including a Champions League hat-trick against Atalanta.

That form has seen many call for Jota to replace ‘inconsistent’ Firmino in the Liverpool lineup.

Owen is perhaps part of many who share the above line of thought and says the 23-year-old is becoming impossible to drop.

“I think he’s under threat because no-one could’ve foreseen how good this lad is,” Owen said as quoted by Goal.

“He surprised me, I liked him at Wolves, but all of a sudden, you watch him now and you think that he’s born to play in this Liverpool team.”

“He’s quicker than I thought he was. I knew he was technically good, the timing of his runs, the way he’s linking, he has shown me that he can slot into those positions.”

“The great thing about those strikers, they can all play with their backs to goal. They’re stronger than you think. [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane, in particular, they’re strong as an ox. They can run at you, they can all be all-round centre-forwards, but Jota has slipped in there seamlessly.”

“You have to start him, if they had the Champions League final tomorrow, you can’t leave him out.”

However, another Liverpool legend shares a contrary opinion to the Jota-Firmino saga.

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