Jota reveals Celtic 'secret' and praises supporter 'culture' as winger makes future promise

Celtic winger Jota maintains the Scottish champions will follow their recipe for success to ensure Champions League ambitions do not encroach on domestic demands.

The attacking promise shown by Ange Postecoglou’s men as they pushed Real Madrid for 55 minutes before succumbing 3-0 to the current Champions League holders has ramped up expectations for what might be possible when they face Shakhtar Donetsk in their second Group G encounter on Wednesday. But the Portuguese attacker insists all thoughts on the Warsaw-hosted away game against the Ukraine side will be parked ahead of playing host to Livingston at Parkhead.

“That’s the secret. That’s really how we think,” said the 23-year-old. “People often think that the only important thing is the Champions League, but it’s not. Every game counts for us. Now we are just going to rest and recover and think of the league game.

“We knew that we had to have personality inside the pitch [at home to Madrid], we needed to remain humble and just to play our game and that’s what we tried to do. We know that we had our chances, we didn’t score, and we know that when these teams have their chances they take them, and that’s it. Next time, we just need to take ours.

Celtic's Jota despairs over an early missed chance over Real Madrid as Karim Benzema looks on. Now the winger is pledging that Ange Postecoglou's men will learn from mistakes in the 3-0 loss. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"The Champions League level is very high, always. Madrid are a top, top team, one of the best in the world, and this will be a learning curve for us. I just can’t wait until the next one to get better, and to get better results.”

And Jota believes the motivation from within the Celtic camp to make good on that aim has only been amped up as a result of the huge ovation for Postecoglou and his players from the home fans at the end of Tuesday’s night loss. “This speaks a lot about what Celtic is, the culture of Celtic and the history that they have,” he said. “We are just grateful to have this support from everyone, and the one thing we can promise them is that we will work hard every day to try to deliver them results.”

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