Celtic winger Jota to miss the League Cup final

Celtic attacker Jota has been ruled out of the Premier Sports Cup final with a hamstring injury.

The Portuguese winger was substituted during his side’s 1-0 win over Hearts and Celtic had feared that he would be sidelined for several weeks.

Manager Ange Postecoglou has now confirmed that Jota will definitely miss the showpiece match against Hibernian on December 19.

The news comes as a blow to the Australian and his staff after Jota had made an impressive start to his time in Scotland.

Eight goals and a string of impressive performances while on loan from Benfica have seen Celtic fans urge the club to take up their option to buy and make his stay in Glasgow permanent.

While Jota will miss the Hampden final, it’s not yet clear if the winger will return later in the month, with Celtic having a heavy schedule before the winter break.

Postecoglou said: “He won’t be right for the cup final, a few weeks means a few weeks. How long that stretches out for we’ll wait and see but he definitely won’t be right for the cup final.

“I said it was going to be three to four weeks recovery depending how he goes so, if you look at timelines, it gets pretty tight for between now and the break. We will just have to see how he recovers.”

The team face St Mirren on December 22, St Johnstone on Boxing day and Hibernian on December 29 before facing Rangers on January 2 in the last match before two weeks off.