NICOLAS KUHN fired in a double as Celtic overcame Manchester City 4-3 in thriller in North Carolina this morning.
The German winger struck twice in the first-half before Kyogo Furuhashi tucked away an excellent third just before the interval to give the Hoops a 3-1 half-time advantage.
Pep Guardiola’s side pulled it back to 3-3 in the Battle of the British champions, but Luis Palma notched the winner 15 minutes from time to send the Honduran fans among the vast Celtic contingent in the stadium into a frenzy.
It was thrill-a-minute stuff as Brendan Rodgers’ men picked up where they left off after scoring four goals in the victory over DC United in Washington at the weekend.
Kuhn, the £3million recruit from Rapid Vienna in January, was sparking on the right wing and it was no surprise when he opened the scoring in the 13th minute.
A neat pass from Reo Hatate gave Matt O’Riley a split-second to size up the situation ahead of him and he delivered an astute ball into the tracks of the galloping wide Bhoy.
Kuhn carried the ball into the box before expertly sweeping it wide of the advancing Stefan Ortega.
NUMBER ONE…Nicolas Kuhn leaves City keeper Stefan Ortega helpless.
NUMBER TWO…Nicolas Kuhn sweeps the ball into the net to restore Celtic’s advantage.
NUMBER THREE…Kyogo Furuhashi is all smiles after another job well done.
NUMBER FOUR…unmarked Luis Palma strokes in the winner.
Debutant Kasper Schmeichel displayed good reflexes to defy two efforts from Erling Haaland, but the Danish keeper was helpless when Oscar Bobb levelled just after the half-hour mark.
The legendary shotstopper came so close to blocking the effort, but the ball spun towards the net with Liam Scales too late to intercept.
In the 36th minute, Kuhn had the Hoops ahead again when he raced in from the right to curl an unstoppable shot high into the far corner.
Rodgers’ men were on the rampage and Kyogo claimed a third a minute from the break when O’Riley and Kuhn combined to send the pacy Japanese striker streaking through the City rearguard.
The hitman dummied keeper Ortega before slotting in at the post with supreme confidence.
The second-half was just a minute old when Guardiola’s side pulled one back through Maximo Perrone and they were level in the 57th minute when Haaland headed past substitute netminder Viljami Sinisalo who had come on for Schmeichel at the interval.
Rodgers made a raft of changes with 25 minutes to go and two of the replacements set up the winner.
James Forrest played in Kwon Hyeok-kyu who stroked a pass to the unmarked Palma for a tap-in at the far post.
It was a fitting finale to a pulsating encounter that prepares the Hoops for their final game of the tour against Chelsea in Indiana on Saturday evening.
TEAM: Schmeichel; Ralston, Welsh, Scales, Taylor; McGregor, O’Riley, Hatate; Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda. Subs: Sinisalo, Bain, Lagerbielke, Palma, Yang, Holm, Kobayashi, Kwon, Iwata, Anderson, Lawal, Murray, Forrest, Dede, Donovan, Turley and Johnston.
