CELTIC go into Champions League action tomorrow night without the considerable presence of Filipe Jota, the player rated “phenomenal” by Joe Hart.
The 35–year-old 75 times-capped England keeper is a huge fan of the Portuguese winger who will miss his fifth consecutive match when the Hoops take on Shakhar Donetsk in Group F at Parkhead.
Ange Postecoglou will send out his players for an encounter where three points are top priority without the skills and goal threat of Jota who has just been named in the Portugal World Cup Finals provisional squad.
Hart said: “I don’t know enough about the Portuguese national team to comment on where he sits in their rankings or if he should or shouldn’t be called up.
EURO CHALLENGE…Joe Hart insists Celtic will give everything again in the Champions League.
“All I know is when he pulls on a Celtic shirt, he’s been phenomenal.
“He gets people on their feet and he’s a great team-mate. I’m really pleased to hear that for him. But I’m sure his focus won’t be on the World Cup quite yet.”
The Hoops are still looking for their first win at the fifth attempt in Europe’s elite competition after losses at home to Real Madrid and RB Leipzig where they have fired blanks and conceded five times. The Bundesliga outfit also won 3-1 in Germany on a night where Jota netted a superb equaliser, but the visitors were turned over with a quickfire double strike.
Postecoglou’s men should have celebrated a victory in Warsaw over tonight’s opponents, but had to settle for a 1-1 stalemate after passing up a frustrating sequence of chances.
Hart, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “Personally, my feelings don’t come into it. It’s important to the team and the club to be in Europe for as long as we can.
“We want to make a good, strong impression and represent the club how we feel it should be. I don’t think it’s been through any lack of effort or good intention – and that will be no different when we roll out tomorrow night.
“We are one. We’ve represented as best we can in all the games and that’s been appreciated. We’ve also been supported superbly.
“We work together and we win and we lose together. We’re winning more than we lose at the moment, but this competition is special for this club, the nights are special and we want to give back to the supporters.
“I think they understand what we’re putting in, we’re doing our best and we’ll continue to do that.”
