KYOGO FURUHASHI netted an exquisite lob and a trademark close-range finish in the 4-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead last night to hoist his goal tally to 18.
Last season, the Japanese marksman completed his debut campaign with 20, but you can only wonder how many he would have collected if he had not been sidelined for four months with knee and ligament injuries.
Kyogo limped off early in the 3-1 win over St Johnstone in Perth on Boxing Day 2021 and wasn’t seen in action again until the Hoops faced Ross County in Dingwall on April 24.
SPEED MERCHANT…Kyogo Furuhashi leaves St Mirren defender Charles Dunne in his slipstream as he prepares to lob in Celtic’s second goal.
In typical fashion, the £4.6million purchase from Vissel Kobe – one of Ange Postecoglou’s first buys in his vigorous squad revamp – marked the occasion with a neat header to open the scoring in a 2-0 triumph with Filipe Jota hitting a later clincher.
Three games later, the Hoops were celebrating an extraordinary title success. There was a phenomenal 29-point swing from the previous year when the side limped home after blowing any chance of a historic tenth successive crown shortly after the turn of the year.
A Postecoglou-inspired Celtic rose from the wreckage of a disastrous crusade to clinch the championship with the Premier Sports League Cup thrown in for good measure.
Fittingly, Kyogo scored the two goals against Hibs at Hampden on December 19 2021 that marked the Greek-Australian’s first silverware success as Hoops boss.
GOAL-DEN BHOY…Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates yet another strike with the Celtic faithful.
And the lightning-swift raider repeated the feat when the curtain came down on the Premiership season in the thoroughly enjoyable 6-0 rout of Motherwell at Parkhead on May 14 last year.
The double against the Fir Park outfit took his tally to 20. Now it’s a case of 18 down and two to go for Kyogo to match last term’s achievement.
His goals against the Paisley Saints – and those from Liel Abada and David Turnbull, of course – are worth a second look courtesy of the good folk from Celtic TV Unique Angle.
Enjoy!
