Last week, Otavio scored his first ever competitive goal for the Portuguese national team.
If Cristiano Ronaldo had brought his shooting boots to the party, the Porto playmaker would have followed that up with an assist on Tuesday night.
It was the sort of pass that Otavio has made his trademark at the Estadio do Dragoa. Punched instinctively towards the penalty area, bisecting the visiting defence like a Samurai sword slicing effortlessly through a block of room temperature butter.
Unfortunately for Otavio, the most prolific footballer ever to play the game fired wide of the target. The pass deserved better. Ronaldo’s scuffed shot, trickling past the post, was the bum note at the end of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
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Nonetheless, assist or not, this was still a tantalising glimpse into what Otavio was all about. There were a few more of those during his 76 minutes on the pitch, even if the Brazil-born 27-year-old was admittedly overshadowed by team-mate Bruno Fernandes as Portugal qualified for the World Cup finals at North Macedonia’s expense.
A few minutes after Ronaldo’s miss, Otavio picks up the ball between the lines again, jinking away from a defender before clipping a brilliant outside-of-the-boot pass into the path of an onrushing Diogo Jota.
With A Bola reporting that Liverpool are once again hot on the tail of a player who came close to joining the Premier League giants in a £35 million deal less than 12 months ago, Otavio’s understanding of Jota’s movements – and vice versa – should have Merseyside mouths watering.
Just four days earlier, Otavio set up Jota’s ninth international goal in that 3-1 qualifier semi-final victory over Turkey.
It’s not hard to imagine a midfielder of his vision and class – he’s set up almost as many goals (39) as Trent Alexander-Arnold in the last three seasons – striking up a similarly formidable partnership with Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane or Mo Salah.
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According to A Bola, the £50 million-rated Otavio is also a target for Newcastle and Manchester United.
Wherever he ends up, the Otavio’s sudden emergence as the string-pulling playmaker of the Portuguese national team certainly bodes well for whichever side wins the race.
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