Paulo Bernardo praises his countryman, friend and Celtic teammate Jota and his ‘perfect captain’ Callum McGregor…
The pair were together at Benfica during their rise through the youth system at the Estadio da Luz, before both sought pastures new and that place was Celtic Park. Of course, both men joined at separate times in their respective careers, with Jota initially joining on loan in the summer of 2021 and likewise, Paulo joined on a temporary basis back in 2023.
Celtic’s two Portuguese stars
However, despite the short-term deals which brought both players to Paradise, they both showed qualities in that time to earn full-time contracts at the Scottish Premiership Champions and convinced the heirarchy to shell out significant money. Jota, as we know, moved to Saudi Arabia with Al-Ittihad when Brendan Rodgers first arrived back at the club during that same summer that Bernardo went on to join late in.
That was one which never went according to plan and after a whirlwind turn of events, saw him end up back home in Scotland this January. This felicitous circumstance has allowed the two Portuguese players to wind up playing in the hoops at the same time, which nobody would have seen coming until very recently. Not that the Celtic supporters will mind though, as both men have been proving their worth time and time again in the Hoops.
