KYOGO FURUHASHI fired blanks in Celtic’s opening day 4-0 triumph over Kilmarnock at Parkhead.
However, the pacy Japanese striker was in the thick of the action throughout as he made life a misery for the opponents’ central defenders Stuart Findlay and Lewis Mayo.
Kyogo saw one effort hooked off the line by Brad Lyons in the first-half before he set up Nicolas Kuhn for the third goal with an exquisite first-time sweeping pass that left the Rugby Park defenders completely flat-footed.
The 29-year-old marksman then had an astonishing miss with just the keeper to beat when he mishit an inviting left-wing cross from Luis Palma past the post from close range.
TIGHT MARGINS…VAR shows Kyogo Furuhashi is just offside at his no-goal decision.
He had the ball in the net in the 80th minute after a breathtaking first touch to control a searching pass from Liam Scales before sliding the ball below the advancing Robby McCrorie.
Unfortunately, referee Don Robertson ruled it out for offside and VAR images showed just how tight it was with the Hoops ace marginally ahead of the Killie backline.
Five minutes later, Kyogo was flattened by McCrorie, but, amazingly, both the whistler and his technical assistant Greg Aitken decided it wasn’t a penalty-kick.
The raider timed his forward play with great precision to race onto a flicked free-kick from Matt O’Riley before knocking the ball past the outrushing netminder. He was then sent crashing to the ground before he could complete the move.
Mindbogglingly, Robertson waved away the appeals for a spot-kick and the fans certainly didn’t agree with the judgement of the officials – and they were joined afterwards by a puzzled Brendan Rodgers.
IN CONTROL…Kyogo Furuhashi gets to the ball before Killie keeper Robby McCrorie.
CRUNCH…Kyogo is stopped in his tracks by the lunging keeper.
GOING DOWN…Kygo is heading for a fall as the ball runs free. Neither the ref nor VAR saw anything wrong with McCrorie’s challenge.
The Hoops gaffer, speaking to the Daily Record, said: “I thought it should have been a penalty.
“You can’t say he’s not going to get it because the Kilmarnock guy was behind him. He actually got to the ball.
“So, you can never say he wasn’t going to get it. It should have been a penalty. I didn’t think he was overly hurt, I just thought it was a penalty.”
