11th October 2026; Fir Park, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland; Scottish Premiership Football, Motherwell versus Celtic; Jota of Celtic
Memories of each of Celtic’s seven goals against Hearts will one day start to fade but not the joy of Jota’s sublime touch.
In truth Celtic fans were largely starved of entertainment last season. They got more drama than they could have bargained for, especially over the last week of the season but enjoyment and entertainment was mainly off the menu.
Heroes were thin on the ground but over the last two Sunday’s a little bit of magic has returned to the Celtic team-sheet. Welcome back Jota.
His 20 minute appearance last week at Motherwell was a welcome distraction as a three match losing run was ended.
Yesterday Celtic ended the first half leading 5-1, the fans were delighted.
Adding to that, for the start of the second half Jota strode out in Celtic kit, his first home appearance in over 18 months.
Quickly he found himself in referee David Dickinson’s book for a straight leg challenge.
The tempo had dropped from Celtic’s play in the second half, Camilo Duran’s 49th minute goal had put them 6-1 in front
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— Mr Celtic (@Mr__Celtic) October 18, 2026
THE JOTA MAGIC RETURNS
In the 77th minute came a moment that no-one will forget.
Jota had already tormented Jordi Altena a few times, the Hearts defender looked nervy.
As the ball was delivered left to an almost stationary Jota the Hearts defender feared the worst.
All Jota had to do to bamboozle his opponent was to draw his right foot back and Altena was gone. Done, grounded. Although fair play to him, Altena was quickly back on his feet pretending that nothing had happened.
The incident only lasted a few seconds but it was another hugely encouraging step for Celtic’s Portuguese winger.
In-between his two Celtic appearances there was a return to Benfica but after being left out of Celtic’s Europa League squad there was only a spectating role at the Stadio de Luz.
Jota will be back in a watching role on Thursday when Celtic host Celta Vigo in the Europa League.
A first start must be getting closer, it could be at home to Dundee United on October 28, the opponents that he was injured against back in April 2025.
