Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has provided the latest update on the injury knock that kept Jota out of last night’s loss against RB Leipzig.
The 23-year-old has been a key player for the Hoops this campaign and has already opened his Champions League goal-scoring account versus Leipzig in Germany last week.
However, going into the reverse fixture at Parkhead, the Bhoys had to make do without the Portuguese winger, who missed out through injury.
After missing the final training session as Celtic prepared for the Leipzig match, many were concerned that Jota may miss out.
And that concern was confirmed by Postecoglou in his pre-match press conference, revealing that Jota was ‘sore’ after being replaced at half-time in the 2-1 win over St Johnstone at the weekend.
Whilst the Celtic boss confirmed that the former Benfica man was a doubt for Tuesday evening before missing out on the crucial Champions League test, there was no exact confirmation of how bad the injury knock might have been.
The Celtic decided to remain coy in his Jota update, which left some sections of the support to question how long he may be missing for.
Speaking in the aftermath of Tuesday’s defeat, Postecoglou provided a brief update on Jota’s progress, insisting that he doesn’t expect the Celtic forward to be out for long.
However, there is a chance that he misses the Bhoys’ return to Scottish Premiership action at Celtic Park this Saturday as Hibernian travel to Glasgow.
He said [The Scotsman]: “Jota is still a bit sore today. He needs a bit of investigation. It’s nothing serious. It may still keep him out of the weekend, but we will see how it goes.”
Jota’s injury prognosis seems positive, but Celtic will have to make do without winger for Hibs test.
Thankfully, it doesn’t seem as though we will be without Jota for too long, with a swift recovery from injury expected for the winger.
It certainly seems like the correct choice to leave the forward out of last night’s game was made, and the club’s medical staff didn’t want to risk further injury.
Going off Postecoglou’s comments, it seems highly likely we will have to make do without the wideman for another potentially tricky test against Hibernian this weekend.
The Bhoys do still have some quality options who can step up in that area of the pitch as the Celtic manager looks to utilise his squad.
Here’s hoping Jota can make a swift recovery as expected as we prepare for a huge month of fixtures on the domestic front.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers spot on Celtic UEFA Champions League verdict.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
