Celtic’s sensational opening goal on Tuesday afternoon against Ferencvaros was made in Portugal and finished off in Japan and the two summer signing, Jota and Kyogo and becoming the best of buddies, even if they can’t speak to each other yet. That’s not a problem though as they appear to have communication channels all of their own and as Kyogo works on his English, Jota is planning on learning some Japanese so that he can talk to his teammate.
“I’m starting to get to know Kyogo and his movements are unbelievable. He really can move, he’s one of the best players I’ve seen doing movements,” Jota told the mainstream media yesterday, as reported by Scottish Sun.
“On Tuesday I saw his move and I wanted to do the pass. It was good because he took the ball really well and scored. Unfortunately Kyogo doesn’t speak English at the moment so it’s been quite difficult to speak with him.
Jota’s pass 😱
Kyogo’s touch 😍#KYOGOAL 🇯🇵
Turnbull ⚽️🎥 #CELFER Unique Angle 🎥#UEL | #COYBIG 🍀 pic.twitter.com/KLU68jscmw
— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) October 21, 2021
“Actually it’s funny because I said to Kyogo if he didn’t learn English then it’s no worries to me because I will try to learn some Japanese so we can talk.
“I will definitely go to learn some Japanese to speak with him, but I think the most important thing is inside the pitch we are starting to get to know each other,” the on-loan Benfica winger said. Celtic though have an agreed option to buy and the only potential obstacle to that going through could be the player’ first experience of a Scottish winter – he was saying it was freezing in September!
Joking aside, Jota’s well deserved praise from the support and indeed his manager signals the arrival of a Celtic player who can make a real name for himself in the game while wearing the Hoops. And he’s keen to pass much of that credit onto the manager himself. The players are really getting a better understanding of Angeball and there are now real signs of it working, for instance that sensational first goal against Ferencvaros.
“Game after game, we are going to get better,” Jota stated. “For sure I enjoy assists as much as scoring because the team winning is the most important thing. The feeling is really good when that happens. If I can contribute with assists or goals it’s really good. I’m really happy to see my team-mates score.
“What is very important is we are all new. We didn’t know each other and it’s crucial we learn throughout the games. Like a family we need to stick together and keep doing our thing.
“Big things and big achievements need some constructions. There are rough times, there are good times but we just need to believe. That’s the most important thing. We are all starting to believe in the ideas and trying to get through the difficulties.
“I think the time in the future will show what we have been preparing and hopefully some good things are going to happen.”
🇵🇹 Jota 🤝 Kyogo 🇯🇵
A #UEL moment of magic! 🪄#CELFER | #COYBIG 🍀 pic.twitter.com/0WQZKkTdqi
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) October 19, 2021
Like everyone else in the game, Jota couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing on Tuesday afternoon when 50,427 supporters attended the game – ON A TUESDAY AFTERNOON – and created an unbelievable atmosphere.
“I would like for every football fan just to experience a game in Celtic Park. I’m telling this to my family and my friends because it is definitely something different.
“You feel things about football that you don’t feel in other places. The atmosphere on Tuesday spoke for itself. It was an afternoon when most people have to work and the stadium was still full. They have to come from their jobs or they are skipping, I don’t know! But they make the effort to come to our games and enjoy them and we are grateful,” Jota stated.
Celtic are now very much back in contention in this group and can eye either second or third place both offering European football after Christmas. The Real Betis manager reminded the Spanish press after our win over Ferencvaros that Celtic could still win the group – that appears to be stretching things somewhat but at least the respect is there.
“We had been looking for something like the game we had on Tuesday. We had two games with negative results and we wanted to do something good. I think we did very well and now we are looking to the next games.
“Can we repeat that performance over there? For sure. But all the games are different. We will try to learn as much as possible from this game and try to fix what we didn’t do so well,” Jota said. “In the first half on Tuesday they were a bit more compact, but we knew what we had to do. We had to stick with our ideas and with our process.
“Some guys were getting tired and we had to fill the spaces they left for us. We took advantage and scored so it was really good.”
Looking ahead to the return fixture against the Hungarian champions at the beginning of next month Jota is confident that a repeat outcome can be delivered. “I think it will be a good game over in Budapest, but we are focusing on our games in Scotland first so we have time to think about that match later.”
Ange Postecoglou highlighted the fact that Jota was in a deep lying defensive position when he worked the ball into position to deliver THAT pass to Kyogo – had he not being doing his defensive shift then the rewards in terms of the assist would not have happened. It’s Angeball in full flow. “It’s not just from me. The gaffer wants the best from everyone. We are definitely listening to him and the things he has to teach us. The process has been good and we just want to do the best possible.”
