Jota: Celtic winger could miss Champions League game vs RB Leipzig

Celtic winger Jota is a doubt for Tuesday night's Champions League match against RB Leipzig; David Turnbull and Mortiz Jenz are available after injury; Celtic are bottom of Group F with one point.

Alison Conroy

Digital Sports Journalist @AlisonGConroy

Wednesday 12 October 2022 09:09, UK

Ange Postecoglou will give Jota until the last minute to prove his fitness for Celtic's crucial Champions League clash with RB Leipzig on Tuesday, but insists he will not risk the winger if he is not fully fit.

Jota missed training on Monday after being substituted at half-time in Saturday's 2-1 at St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, with Postecoglou telling Sky Sports it was to rest the player amid Celtic's heavy schedule of games.

It has now emerged the Portuguese winger has a muscle injury that could see him miss the Champions League group match at Celtic Park.

"We'll just wait and see. He's still a bit sore from the weekend and we'll make a decision tomorrow," said the manager.

"All the 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.

"It's just a matter of whether he's right or not. If he's right we'll play him and if not then he'll miss out."

Celtic will still be without Carl Starfelt and Callum McGregor, who have knee injuries, while David Turnbull and Moritz Jenz are available after illness.

McGregor began his lay-off from the starting line-up during Celtic's late 2-1 weekend win, with Matt O'Riley dropping back into a deep midfield role and Reo Hatate and Sead Haksabanovic ahead of him.

Postecoglou has several more defensive options such as Aaron Mooy, James McCarthy and Oliver Abildgaard, who all came off the bench in Perth, but O'Riley could maintain his new role.

"He is an option there for sure, I thought he did well at the weekend," Postecoglou said.

"We have obviously got two or three options that can play there. It's more about just seeing how the guys pull up.

"I thought at the weekend Matt and Reo and Haksabanovic looked good as a threesome.

"I guess with Callum, he is one that has that experience at this level and he knows what's required to win a game even at Champions League level and international level.

"He is used to that environment, he thrives in it, and you can't replace that because that you can only learn by experiencing it.

"That's where we are going to have to get other guys to take a leg forward and show that experience that maybe doesn't exist right now in that kind of environment.

"In terms of our style of play, I still think we have players within the group that can compensate for missing Callum."

The Hoops sit bottom of Group F having taken one point from their opening three group games against Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and Leipzig.

After losing 3-1 to the German side last midweek, they need a positive result from Tuesday's match to keep alive any realistic chance of progressing in the competition.

On the prospect of a good result and performance, he said: "I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive. I don't know why people think you need one or the other.

"If we put in a good performance, there's a good chance we'll get a good result. From my perspective, the reason why we do things the way we do is because we think they'll give us the best chance of success.

"Again the focus for us is we put in a strong performance against a good quality opponent and that will give us the best chance of getting the result we want. "