There is certainly something different about Jota, and not just about his Double Denim appearance at The Brazen Head.
As well as the George Michael looks he has an old fashioned flair about him as revels in the art of dribbling with a very definite end product.
Celtic’s Portuguese winger is capable of all sorts of goals. In the early weeks of this season there were the long range efforts against Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, in January he headed in from a ridiculously dangerous angle away to Dundee United and then there is the goals in the Glasgow Derby.
At Hampden he positioned himself perfectly to head home a cross from Daizen Maeda, three weeks earlier he took full advantage of an ‘assist’ from John Souttar and then there was that golden goal in September, voted this week as the Goal of the Season by PFA Scotland.
Having that range of finishing isn’t an accident, especially on top of his skills and trickery on the ball.
Portugal has a tradition for producing incredibly talented players. Back in 1984 Michel Platini was the jewel in an incredibly talented French midfield but they were pushed all the way by Portugal inspired by Chalana in midfield.
The Benfica man had all the tricks plus the industry required to play in the centre of the park, as Jota came through the ranks in Lisbon Chalana was the coach that always believed in him, even during the tough times such as out on loan at Real Valladolid during the Lockdown season.
Discussing Chalana’s influence, Jota told the Daily Record:
He was definitely someone who believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. That says a lot of such a quality player because he saw something and I just stick with his ideas.
He said to me, ‘Son, just be different from everyone else because football is becoming really not interesting and the ones who are going to thrive and to be better are the ones who do different stuff and can solve problems when no one can solve them’.
So I just stick with those ideas. Inside the philosophy of the game of course. There are always periods during the season that you need to find this creativity and he was someone that shone every time he went on to the pitch doing whatever he was doing because he was just a special player.
When they showed me his videos I saw each time he was already doing some incredible stuff that no one else was doing. This says a lot about what he was as a football player and, on my side, I just try to do my thing and to express myself in the best way possible.
Tragically, last August at the age of 63 Chalana died. His spirit however still burns brightly in Celtic’s Superstar from Portugal.