The soccer star had reportedly opted to take the longer route because he’d been advised by doctors not to get on a plane while recovering from a lung-related surgery.

As a child Diogo Jota idolized Cristiano Ronaldo. In a career that took him to soccer stardom, he would go on to call the Portugal great a teammate and win some of the sport’s biggest trophies.

When joining Liverpool, Jota made it clear he was hungry to compete in the Champions League once again. So it was only fitting that one of the highlights of his first campaign at Anfield came in the competition as he scored a hat-trick in an astonishing 5-0 victory away at Atalanta.