Jota has surprisingly chosen his goal against Raith Rovers as his favourite in a Celtic jersey.
The on-loan Benfica star has quickly become a fan-favourite at Parkhead after getting off to a stunning start in terms of direct goal contributions.
The Portuguese talent has already scored 8 goals and bagged 6 assists in all competitions for the Hoops [Transfermarkt]. No surprises then that there are constant calls for him to join up permanently from both supporters and pundits.
However, as he reflected on his Celtic spell so far on the Celtic View’s Christmas Podcast, Jota surprisingly named his first-ever Hoops goal against Championship side Raith Rovers as his favourite – snubbing strikes against the likes of Aberdeen, Ferencvaros, and Bayer Leverkusen respectively:
“I have to say in terms of feeling, the first one inside Celtic Park [is his favourite]. It’s different to score in Celtic Park. But all of the goals are special. I remember the game where I scored 2 goals and celebrated in front of the fans [at Dundee] which was really good.
“Every game, I think every game it’s very good. But the first one, I think the first one. Yes, that’s it.”
Jota looks like having plenty of Celtic goals to choose from come the end of the season
You can understand the emotional aspect for him of his first Celtic goal. Coming to a new country and footballing environment, getting his opener so quickly into his Hoops career has clearly done wonders for him. You can never truly tell how a footballer will react to a slow start.
That’s not something Jota has had to worry about. To have racked up as many as 14 direct goal contributions in 17 games is absolutely electric form. And it’s not going to stop there as he continues to be one of Ange Postecoglou’s undroppables.
Come the end of the season, you get the feeling that Jota will have changed his mind. The reason being that we’ve got a host of big moments to come from him before his loan spell is up. Where that leaves us in terms of being able to bring him to Parkhead permanently remains to be seen.
But again he’s used the question to effectively express his love for both the club and the supporters. Not to mention Celtic Park, where he clearly feels at home even this early into his Hoops career.
It was a smart choice from Celtic to bring Jota out for this kind of interview. It’s the kind of thing fans can connect with and increase the relationship between them and the club’s top stars. Not that it helps any potential summer break-up of course!
Hopefully, come the end of the campaign, we’re left debating a much bigger pool of goals to choose from if Jota is ever asked this question again.
In other news, Hearts have just suffered a monumental Celtic Park blow
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