Why Jota cannot play for Celtic against Benfica on Thursday night
Celtic star Jota made an emotional return to action after around 18 months out with a knee injury on Sunday. The winger has ad a torrid time returning from his ACL rupture, dealing with numerous setbacks during his bid to return.
During the international break, Jota was cleared to play a behind-closed-doors friendly, and he came through it without any issues. Still, it was expected he would be held back from competitive action for a few more weeks, but that was not the case.
Jota was brought off the bench during Celtic's 2-0 away win over Motherwell on Sunday, and he looked pretty sharp. Naturally, it will continue to be a process of slowly building fitness for Jota, who needs more match sharpness before he can look to start games.
And Celtic knew that would be the case, which is why they did not consider him to be part of their Europa League squad this season.
Why Jota cannot play against Benfica
Jota cannot play for Celtic against Benfica because he is not registered on their UEFA squad list. The Bhoys, like all of their European rivals, had to declare the list of eligible players for the league phase, and with the exception of under-21 players, those not on the list cannot play until the list is resubmitted ahead of the knockout fixtures, should Celtic progress.
Jota was not included on that list, likely because Celtic felt he would miss too many games while trying to regain full fitness, and that means he is not eligible on Thursday night or for the remaining league phase fixtures.
It would have been a dream game for Jota, given he is from Lisbon, where the game will take place, but it's unlikely he would have been cleared to play anyway.
The intensity of an away game against a team like Benfica is far greater than an away game against Motherwell, and Celtic are going to want to be careful with Jota to make sure he doesn't pick up any fresh setbacks.
It's a very different story for the remaining league phase games, but it's likely Celtic felt he would not be ready so soon. They were likely informed of that by the medical team, and ultimately, it's not easy to protect how any given player's body will respond to different loads, which is why return dates are not an exact science.
Jota will have to watch on from the sidelines and hope Celtic can progress to the next round to give him a chance of playing European football this season.
