ANGE POSTECOGLOU has told CeltsAreHere Jota missed training on Monday morning because he’s still a bit sore from the weekend. With Football Scotland also sharing the news.
The Portuguese winger was subbed off at half time during Saturday’s win against St Johnstone — the manager putting it down to fatigue post-match.
After scoring in Germany, Jota would be a huge miss going into the home game against Leipzig, but the Celtic manager hasn’t ruled him out.
“It just comes down to whether he can play or not. I think all players are important in different ways.
“With the short turnaround, it’s not unusual for someone not to be right the day before a game when we’ve got such a quick turnaround in games. It’s just down to whether he’s right or not. If he’s right, we’ll play him. If he’s not, then he’ll miss out.”
Ange isn’t claiming Jota is injured for any period of time, it’s simply a knock that needs to be managed.
From our experience, if Ange can get away with not giving you a full update on an injury to keep the opposition guessing, that’s what he’ll do.
The manager will have a good inkling whether Jota will start or not already, but giving that information out in such a big game is something probably worth protecting.
