Jota marks Celtic return in style while Rangers hammer Ross County

Jota marked his return to Celtic with a goal on his second debut for the club in a 3-1 win over Motherwell.

Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic went ahead in the first minute of Sunday’s contest at Fir Park, where Daizen Maeda headed home after just 49 seconds.

Luke Armstrong equalised for Motherwell in the 23rd minute, yet Celtic swiftly reasserted their dominance through Adam Idah’s third goal in the space of two games across all competitions.

VAR spared Tom Sparrow’s blushes as his own goal was ruled out for Idah straying offside earlier in the move, before Nicolas Kuhn was denied by the assistant’s flag after dispatching a brilliant overhead kick.

Yet Jota, who re-joined Celtic from Rennes earlier this week, was on hand to add further gloss late on, finishing from close range after being picked out by Maeda in the box.

“When you score, you make the Celtic sing!” #MOTCEL | #CelticFC pic.twitter.com/W3B7xjnHY7

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) February 2, 2025

The win keeps Celtic 10 points clear of Rangers, who continued their fine form with a 4-0 rout of Ross County at Ibrox.

Ianis Hagi helped himself to a quickfire double before John Souttar made it 3-0 in the 36th minute.

James Tavernier added a fourth from the penalty spot deep in the second half.

Rangers have now won each of their last 11 home league games against Ross County by an aggregate score of 38-6, since a 1-1 draw in February 2017.

“I’m quite happy, and you see what we’ve been saying for the last months,” said Rangers boss Philippe Clement.

“This team is growing, also in depth with the whole squad that everybody starts to understand better the patterns, the way of playing, with and without the ball.”