Awestruck Joe Hart reckons his "phenomenal" teammate Jota deserves to go to the World Cup with his country next month. But the Celtic stopper knows the wing wizard won't be thinking about Qatar just yet with his club facing a huge run of games of their own.
Jota has been in inspired form under Ange Postecoglou this season and was named by Fernando Santos in the initial 55-player pool he will choose his squad from. That will be cut by more than half before the final 26 are announced but Jota is in the mix and Hart believes it's just desserts for the stunning form he has shown since returning to Parkhead permanently.
Speaking ahead of their Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk, 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. 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 teammate. So that news (Jota's call-up), I didn't know that, so I'm really pleased to hear that for him. But I'm sure his focus won't be on the World Cup quite yet."
Celtic are out of the Champions League and know they desperately need a win against the Ukrainian team to salvage any residual hopes of finishing third and playing in Europe after Christmas. Their Euro results this season have been disappointing with just one point from four games but their performances haven't reflected that dreary return and Hart believes the fans appreciate their European efforts.
He went on: "Personally my felings 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 and that we're doing our best, and that we'll continue to do that.
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