Celtic winger Jota admits he "met some demons" during his long injury absence, but says there is no need to rush his return to full match fitness at the club.
Jota's game time will be restricted to domestic fixtures in the short term, as he is not in Celtic's Europa League squad. Celta Vigo visit Glasgow on Thursday (20:00 BST), but Jota is focused on making the most of the playing opportunities he does get.
"My love for football is immense," he explained. "Maybe someone else wouldn't want to come back because of the struggle, or some guys just don't have that in themselves. That was my fuel to keep on working every day, to be healthy and fit, even if things weren't going that way."
"This is my dream. It's my passion. So there are moments where you reflect, there are moments where you're down and you cannot see any light, but that doesn't mean that you stop believing. You just need to find another way. My aim was always to come back fit, whatever time I need to take, because I still have a long career in front of me and I'm still young. So there's no rush. Let's do everything correctly and just trust the process."
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing