Martin O’Neill is hoping to see some trickery from Jota as the Celtic fan favourite starts his first match in eighteen months against Kilmarnock.

The winger made his long-awaited return from injury in Celtic’s 2-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park last month, making a further three substitute appearances in the time since.

O’Neill has brought him in from the start as one of three changes for this afternoon’s match; Kasper Hogh and Colby Donovan are also back in the side.

Discussing his team selection, O’Neill warned that the Portuguese is unlikely to last the full 90 minutes, also discussing the mood in the squad after a huge win in Europe on Thursday.

Martin O’Neill on Jota: ‘I hope he makes an impact’

Asked about the return of the winger who hasn’t started a match since April 2025, O’Neill told CelticPlayer: “What I hope he brings? Well, all that trickery that he possesses.

“That ability to go past players, the ability to go past players as well. He might not last the game, in that sense he’s building up his fitness week by week… I just hope that he makes an impact in the time that he’s on the field.”

On Thursday’s result, he continued: “Well it should do. It was a big, big win for us against top opposition, so it should give us a big boost of confidence.”

Finally, on whether he’s expecting similar to what we saw in the Hoops’ last clash with Killie at Rugby Park in August, he said: “We’re going to try and press as much as we possibly can, and I think that game was incredibly open… incredibly open right from start to finish.

“I remember that Kilmarnock had a couple of chances early on. Even though we took an early lead, they took a couple of chances early on. So we’ve got to be aware of that, but secondly, we want to come and attack here at Celtic Park.”