WHEN the Celtic players trudged off the pitch at half-time during their Europa League fixture with Ferencvaros on Tuesday, the fans inside the stadium could be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy. The Hungarians hadn’t truly threatened Joe Hart’s goal, nor could they be said to have really laid a glove on Ange Postecoglou’s side, yet things weren’t exactly clicking into gear for their hosts either.

The mood in the home dressing room was one of confidence, despite the game being goalless at the break. That faith in themselves would be rewarded in the second half as first Kyogo Furuhashi and then David Turnbull benefitted from the incisive passing of on-loan Benfica forward Jota to seal a 2-0 win.

After recording back-to-back away wins in the league, there is a sense that this Celtic side have turned a corner after getting a rather sizeable gorilla off of their backs. It’s this belief that meant the players’ heads didn’t drop at the interval against Ferencvaros, according to Jota, and the Portuguese reckons that confidence will only grow within Postecoglou’s squad.

“In the first half they were a bit more compact,” he explained. “We knew what we had to do.

“We had to stick with our ideas, with our process. Some guys were getting tired and we had to fill the spaces they left for us. We took advantage and scored so it was really good.

“Big things and big achievements need some constructions.

Celtic Way:

“There are rough times, there are good times but we just need to believe. That’s the most important thing.

“We are all starting to believe in the ideas and to try and get through the difficulties and yes, I think the time in the future will tell us what we have been preparing and hopefully some good things are going to happen.

“[Growing in confidence] is very important because we are all new. We didn’t know each other and it’s crucial we learn throughout the games. Like a family we need to stick together and keep doing our thing.”

With the game approaching the hour mark, it was Jota’s threaded through ball that undid the Ferencvaros defence and sent Furuhashi scarpering through to slot the ball home and hand Celtic the advantage in matchday three.

It was a superb demonstration of the winger’s precision under pressure and the assist highlighted the burgeoning relationship between the two summer signings on the pitch – but Jota will be putting the hours in off the park to ensure greater communication between himself and the Japan internationalist.

“For sure [I enjoy assists as much as goals] because the team winning is the most important thing,” he reasoned. “The feeling is really good when that happens.

“If I can contribute with assists or goals, it’s really good. I’m really happy to see my team-mates score.

“I’m starting to get to know Kyogo and his movements are unbelievable. He really can move, he’s one of the best players I’ve seen doing movements.

“I saw his move and I wanted to do the pass. It was good because he scored, he did a really good reception [of the ball].

“Unfortunately, Kyogo doesn’t speak English so [developing a relationship] been quite difficult.

“Actually, it’s funny because I said to Kyogo if he didn’t learn English then it’s no worries because I will try to learn some Japanese so we can talk.

“I will definitely go to learn some Japanese to speak with him but I think the most important thing is inside the pitch we are starting to get to know each other.

“Game after game we are going to get better.”

After losing out to Real Betis and Bayer Leverkusen in their first two group stage games, the victory over Ferencvaros has reignited Postecoglou’s hopes of making it through to the knockout stages.

Jota knows a win in Budapest in two weeks’ time would go a long way to helping his team achieve that particular objective but is remaining focused on domestic matters for the time being.

“We had been looking for something like this,” he said. “We had two games with negative results and we wanted to do something good.

“I think we did very well and now we are looking to the next games.

“For sure [we can have a repeat performance over there]. All the games are different though and we will try to learn as much as possible from this game and try to fix what we didn’t do so good.

“I think it will be a good game in Budapest and now we are focusing on our first games in Scotland so we have time to think about that match.”

Tuesday’s clash had the unusual kick-off time of 3:30pm but that didn’t stop over 50,000 Celtic supporters descending on Parkhead to create a raucous atmosphere inside.

It was the first time that Jota had sampled the famous crowd’s salutations for a European encounter, and he admits the fervour from the stands caught him a little off-guard – even if he was somewhat dubious about how so many fans managed to get the time off work to attend the game.

He added: “I would like for every football fan just to experience a game in Celtic Park. I’m telling this to my family and my friends because it is definitely something different.

Celtic Way:

“You feel things about football that you don’t feel in other places. The atmosphere today speaks for itself. It’s an afternoon, most people have to work and the stadium is full. They have to come from their jobs or they are skipping, I don’t know!

“They make the effort to come to our games and enjoy them, and we are grateful.”