Nuri Sahin has warned his Borussia Dortmund side Kyogo might be small but the Celtic hitman is a HUGE danger, writes Michael Gannon in Germany.
The Yellow Wall legend is set to take charge of his first home match in the Champions League as gaffer against the Scottish champs. And Sahin revealed he won’t be underestimating the Hoops – especially with lethal Kyogo leading the line.
The boss – who made his name in two spells at Dortmund as a player – said: “Every team has its strengths and weaknesses, and key players, so it would be very easy to name some. But if you really want a name one, I am a big fan of the striker. Kyogo Furuhashi, I hope I have said the name right, is not a typical striker.
“We are used to playing against big strikers, but he is very smart, and I really like the player, how he moves off the ball, the timing of his runs, and I see a tactical, very smart guy there. I see a very talented group together. So we are ready, the team will be ready after today, when we have our meetings and the training session, and then we will see tomorrow.”
Sahin admitted he didn’t know much about Celtic’s £11m Bundesliga recruit Arne Engels from the midfielder’s time in Germany. But he knows all about the Belgian cap now and rates the 21-year-old highly.
Sahin insisted his men won’t take Celtic lightly despite the Parkhead club’s struggling away from home in the Champions League.
He said: “I don’t know Engels very well, to be honest. Of course I know he played in the Bundesliga and he is a good player, but I didn’t follow his full path of his career, so it would be easy or not good to tell anything about him. I just see in the matches we analysed, I see a very good player.
“It’s a prestigious club with amazing talent in the squad, with a fantastic coach. It will be a challenge for us tomorrow, but at the same time a big challenge, a huge challenge, which they didn’t have this season with us, playing in our stadium. So, really looking forward to it. To call them the underdogs would be not fair to Celtic, to be honest.”