ST JOHNSTONE 0 CELTIC 6
KYOGO FURUHASHI blasted his away day hoodoo to smithereens as Celtic romped to a sizzling six-goal romp over helpless St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park this evening.
The Japanese striker had not scored a league goal on his travels since netting one in the champions’ 4-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle on October 22 last year.
However, in the space of 10 first-half minutes at Perth, Kyogo had placed two excellent efforts beyond Ross Sinclair to get back on track.
It was an evening of celebration for the champions with Paulo Bernardo, Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah also on the scoresheet as they maintained their 100 per cent start to the campaign.
START OF THE GOAL RUSH…Kyogo Furuhashi looks happy after his breakthrough strike.
Kyogo’s first arrived in the 35th minute to break the deadlock against a stubborn Saints side and it was well worth the weight.
Liam Scales, who won just about every challenge in the air in this confrontation, rose to head a long kick out of the hosts’ defence onto Maeda whose attempt at a flicked pass to Kyogo was deflected to Nicolas Kuhn.
The in-form German winger nodded the ball forward and the pacy frontman took off at high speed to leave the Perth defenders in his slipstream.
Kyogo showed great composure as he slotted an unstoppable right-foot drive away from the advancing keeper.
And before the interval he had netted again, this time with a perfect header from 10 yards after an eye-catching sweeping move from the Hoops that had their opponents chasing shadows.
Alistair Johnston, Kuhn and Maeda were involved before the ball was played back to Greg Taylor. The left-back swung in a peach of a cross and Kyogo timed his run to perfection to bullet a header into the inviting net.
JOY BHOYS…Arne Engels and Kyogo Furuhashi celebrate one of the Japanese striker’s double.
VAR checked the goal for offside, but it was good and the frontman got to celebrate again with his team-mates.
In between Kyogo’s counters, Bernardo also claimed a beauty with a cunning curling right-foot effort from outside the box in the 43rd minute.
Again, the visitors played some entrancing one-touch football as they eased the ball forward with McGregor spraying a pass to Johnston who moved it onto Kuhn.
Kyogo knocked his lofted ball into the stride of the Portuguese playmaker and he nonchalantly swept a low drive wide of Sinclair low down at his left-hand post.
Celtic actually had the ball in the net in the 26th minute from Maeda, a superb first-time drive high past the keeper, but VAR, with Alan Muir at the controls, ordered match official Don Robertson to look again at a lead-up incident.
He checked the touchline screen and cancelled the effort after deciding Auston Trusty had fouled Graham Carey before Kuhn whipped over Arne Engels’ astute free-kick into the box.
HAPPY DAZE…Paulo Bernardo and Daizen Maeda celebrate the Portuguese ace’s wonder strike.
It looked a complete accident, but, incredibly, the strike was ruled out.
Celtic restarted the action after the interval with Barcelona loanee Alex Valle on in place of Taylor in the No.3 slot.
The second-half turned into a siege of Sinclair’s goal as Scotland’s title kings maintained a ferocious high tempo.
Nine minutes after the turnaround, McGregor collected another award-winning strike after being set up by Kuhn following another swift corner-kick from Engels on the right.
The captain was picked up lurking with menace about 25 yards out and he rattled a low left-foot drive past the startled netminder who was left standing and bewildered at the attempt.
In the 66th minute, Brendan Rodgers made his anticipated substitutions with Engels, Kuhn and Kyogo withdrawn for Reo Hatate, James Forrest and Adam Idah.
Goal No. 5 arrived in the 72nd minute when Bernardo lobbed an inviting diagonal ball into the box and Maeda dived full-length to send a header raging high into the rigging from eight yards.
Three minutes later, Luke McCowan entered the fray as skipper McGregor came off to rapturous applause from the Celtic fans.
And the curtain came down on a breathtaking six-goal performance with a superbly-constructed goal that saw Valle play a sweet one-two with McCowan.
ROARING SUCCESS…Callum McGregor shows his goal after another special strike.
The Spaniard raced into the box just beating the offside trap and cheekily backheeled the ball to Idah who stroked No.6 past the overworked Sinclair.
McCowan was denied a seventh with a whiplash low shot that was just touched onto the inside of the left-hand post by the sprawling keeper.
The rebound was worked back to the former Dundee captain who snapped in another effort, but once again he was foiled by Sinclair who touched the ball away.
Now it’s a case of bring on Borussia in Dortmund on Tuesday!
TEAM: Schmeichel; Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Taylor (sub: Valle 46); Engels (sub: Hatate 66), McGregor (sub: McCowan 75), Bernardo; Kuhn (sub: Forrest 66), Kyogo (sub: Idah 66), Maeda.
