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He's hailed as the superstar from Portugal. It's a bit of a misnomer – Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou would tell you there are no superstars in his team.
But Jota knows it and the Celtic squad know it too.
Yet the Portuguese winger has been beset by injury and illness of late. It was certainly evident in his early performances following his return to first-team action after the World Cup finals.
However, in the last two matches, the old twinkle-toed Jota has made somewhat of a sparkling return to form. A cameo appearance at Ibrox in the Glasgow Derby saw him give Rangers full-back James Tavernier twisted blood as a trademark run down the wing, quick thinking and even quicker feet in the box kept the ball alive long enough for Kyogo Furuhashi to thrash home a crucial late equaliser.
It was also Jota who darted away from his markers to score the vital opening goal against Kilmarnock in the 2-0 Scottish Premiership win after the Rugby Park men not only parked the bus at Parkhead but had completely abandoned the vehicle on the turf. It was the kind of near-post run that the manager accused his players of not making enough in the 2-1 home win over Livingston last month. Jota clearly listened and learned.
READ MORE: Why Celtic's wingers give Ange Postecoglou an answer to every problem
Both those contributions cannot be underestimated in the context of the season. It was Jota's first goal since his free kick in the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid in the Champions League back in November. It brought his tally to eight goals for the campaign and five assists in 23 appearances. If we take that output over his 1,497 minutes of total game-time (the equivalent of around 16 full 90 minutes) during the season those numbers are actually even more impressive.
In the six games since the Scottish game returned, he has not been firing on all cylinders. As Postecoglou revealed at the weekend: "He’s had a rough trot. He had a bit of a niggle, injury-wise, and he’s one of the ones who got hit by the bug last week. That knocked a fair few of them about. It is just a matter of getting him game-time.”
Jota himself confirmed his woes, saying of his recent form: "I was struggling with a virus. It definitely wasn’t the best for me but I’m building up again."
He certainly seems to be coming to the boil rather nicely. With a Hampden League Cup semi-final to come against Kilmarnock on Saturday evening (5.30pm), Jota may just have timed this return to form to perfection.
It has been a mixed bag so far for the 23-year-old at the national stadium. He missed the League Cup final last December to injury and then failed to set the heather alight during Celtic's Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Rangers in extra time come April.
However, in his first-ever visit to Mount Florida in last year's League Cup semi-final against St Johnstone he was the star attraction. James Forrest may have grabbed the headlines with the all-important winning goal but it was the Portuguese who hogged the limelight with a display full of wing wizardry. He bagged TCW’s man-of-the-match award that day and, at one point, even treated the crowd to an outrageous rabona-style cross that really deserved to be a goal in the grand scheme of things.
Ahead of his return to the scene in the same round of the same competition this season, Jota said: “Well, it's always an important time of the year for us. We like to play there, last year was my first experience of Hampden. I really like to play over there so we can't wait to go there and perform to give our fans good football and bring the win."
Skill from Jota 😎 pic.twitter.com/qsLOFfvEHv
— GEO THOMSON ART (@geokoart) November 20, 2021
Jota showed in that instant last year that he had what they call the skills to pay the bills. He usually thrives on the biggest stages. His sumptuous dinked goal and celebration against Rangers in the 4-0 destruction at Celtic Park back in September and his two Champions League goals away to RB Leipzig and Real Madrid are proof, if any were needed, that Jota is a genuinely special talent indeed.
It's his last two bread-and-butter Scottish Premiership contributions that will have pleased his manager most recently though. Impacting a derby by coming off the substitutes bench and making your presence felt to scoring a key opener against stubborn opposition with a League Cup semi-final looming doesn’t go unnoticed.
Rabonas, goals, assists and wing wizardry… you can dress it up whatever way you want but, although you'll have to whisper it quietly in front of Postecoglou, it all adds up to superstar quality doesn't it?
That's the Jota the manager, his team-mates and, above all else, the Celtic supporters have come to love. Next stop, Hampden.
This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.
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