Celtic wise to protect Jota as fresh injury blow ruled out

Celtic star Jota started his first game for more than 18 months on Sunday as he ticked off a major milestone in his return from injury.

The winger spent more than a year-and-a-half through a knee injury that threw up complications aplenty, but he has now been back in the frame for a few weeks, regularly appearing off the bench.

The tricky winger has not been 100%, but he has shown signs of hs old self in flashes, producing some nice moments on the ball out on the left. His last couple of cameos, in particular, have impressed, and he was cleared to start against Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Naturally, players require the ability to play with a little more intensity when starting, given the opposition are fresh, which is not usually the case when being introduced after an hour.

Jota did okay but didn't look particularly dangerous on Sunday. He perhaps wasn't helped by a couple of sore kicks from Kilmarnock players, who will have known they could impact the winger's confidence with a little physicality.

There is likely a natural fear for Jota given the tough time he has had with injury, and until he gets back to full fitness, he won't appreciate getting a good kicking.

Jota was ultimately withdrawn at half-time, and with no clear injury, it was unclear whether it was due to fitness, performance or Killie's physical approach.

But O'Neill later confirmed: “I didn’t expect Jota to play much more than the half because that was the starting.”

It was wise to take Jota out of this game, and for all of the reasons above. Celtic shouldn't be taking any risks with him in terms of his fitness building, and it wasn't going to do him any favours to deal with repeated fouls.

A few fouls will have done him good to help him realise he is not made of glass, something we all need after an injury. But there is a fine line, and we can't ignore that Jota struggled to produce in this game, so there is no need to take any risks.

There was some good news with his replacement, too, with Yang Hyun-jun coming on to make his first appearance for Celtic for around two months due to him leaving for the Asian Games in early September and going on to pick up a hamstring issue.

Yang looked pretty sharp for his first game back.