KYOGO FURUHASHI will be a man on a mission when he lines up against Lazio at Parkhead tonight.
Amazingly, Celtic’s prolific striker, who has claimed 58 goals in just over two years at the Hoops, has yet to open his account in the Champions League.
Kyogo fired blanks in successive outings in Europe’s elite competition against Real Madrid (twice), RB Leipzig (twice) and Shakhtar Donetsk (twice) last season and failed to claim the breakthrough effort in last month’s 2-0 loss to Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
JOY BHOYS…Kyogo Furuhashi and team-mates David Turnbull, James Forrest, Liel Abada and Ismaila Soro celebrate a goal in Celtic’s 4-2 win over FK Jablonec in the Czech Republic in August 2021.
Ironically, the Japanese international’s debut goal for the team came in a Europa League qualifier against FK Jablonec in a 4-2 victory in the Czech Republic on August 5 2021 – just six days after his £4.6million arrival from J-League outfit Vissel Kobe.
Kyogo hit 20 goals in his first term, despite missing four months of action with two separate injuries, and followed that up with 34 in a phenomenal campaign last time out.
He has already fired in four in this crusade, including his spectacular volleyed winner at Ibrox just over a month ago.
Now the fans’ favourite is hoping to complete an Italian job under the lights in the east end of Glasgow tonight to kick-start his striking aspirations in this arena.
We wish him well!
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v Lazio this evening – only in your champion CQN.