Jota notched his 13th goal of the 2022-23 season and his second against Rangers this season by putting Celtic 3-1 ahead in Saturday's Glasgow Derby at Parkhead.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored midway through the first half after excellent work down the left flank by Greg Taylor and Matt O'Riley fed him the ball in the middle of the penalty area to put Celtic 1-0 up.
The Japanese forward made no mistake but showed no end of poise to take a touch and swivel before firing past the helpless Allan McGregor in the Rangers goal.
James Tavernier equalised for Rangers before half-time with a sumptuous free kick before Furuhashi slammed home a second after a defensive howler from Ben Davies.
Jota, who assisted the second goal, then got himself on the scoresheet by pouncing on a slack backpass from Rangers defender John Souttar to beat McGregor to the ball, round him and slot home.
You can watch the goal in the clip below:
😲 "It's a horror goal for Rangers to lose!"
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 8, 2023
Jota gives Celtic a two-goal lead! ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/l3ezSFSaZX
In the run-up to the match there were doubts over the fitness of Reo Hatate, Taylor and Aaron Mooy. Only Taylor and Mooy started with Hatate missing out entirely.
On the injury front, asked about Mooy Postecoglou replied: "He missed the last game, but he was close last week. He's trained all week and he's ready to go. Obviously, with Reo out, it's good to get him back in.
"There's no problem with Greg, he trained pretty much all week.
"It's one of those games where everything is a lot closer than usual because everyone wants to play. They've convinced me they're ready to go."
Celtic team: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, McGregor, Mooy, O’Riley, Jota, Maeda, Kyogo. Subs: Bain, Haksabanovic, Turnbull, Kobayashi, Oh, Iwata, Bernabei, Welsh, Vata
Rangers team: McGregor, Tavernier, Souttar, Davies, Barisic, Jack, Raskin, Cantwell, Tillman, Kent, Morelos. Subs: McLaughlin, Yilmaz, Lundstram, Hagi, Colak, Sakala, Wright, Arfield, Kamara
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