Kyogo Furuhashi says he’s ready to escape the best man-markers in the world.
The Japanese striker is eager for the chance to outstrip Atalanta’s suffocating style in Wednesday’s Champions League crunch. Kyogo bagged his fifth goal of the season as Celtic were held at home by Aberdeen. Now it’s an elite test against the Serie A stars in the backyard of the current Europa League kings.
Boss Brendan Rodgers has outlined the size of the challenge awaiting his troops in Bergamo as he described counterpart Gian Piero Gasperini’s outfit as “probably the best man-to-man marking team in world football”. But Kyogo is excited at the prospect of overcoming Atalanta’s tight system and said: “I’m looking forward to beat such a defensive style if I play. Obviously, I will try to enjoy it and see how much I can perform against this kind of team.
“Individually, definitely, I will have the chances, even though we play against a tough opponent, so I just have to be prepared to put the balls into the net, or at least I try to get the shots on target. And, as a team, we have to work collectively, whoever is playing from the first minute, whoever is coming on from the bench, we have to share the same ideas, we have to work on it and try to get the result.”
Celtic know they have to improve from their last away performance in the Champions League when they were demolished in Dortmund. Rodgers’ team were crushed 7-1 by rampant Borussia on match day two and the test is no lesser against the Italian force.
Losing their 100 per cent domestic record after the Dons draw was not the ideal build-up for the trip. Although winning and scoring goals lifts confidence, the Asian feels such setbacks can also act to fire his team up even more to deliver a display against Atalanta.
He said: “I think that’s right. We have to keep showing ourselves on the pitch. We obviously wanted to win the game, but it was a difficult match and we ended up drawing. We just have to focus on the next match.”
Captain Callum McGregor insists Celtic must banish the disappointment of losing their 100 per cent domestic record and get their minds on Italy. He said: “We have to dust ourselves down and we have a big game during the week.
“It’s disappointing in terms of not taking three points, but in the grand scheme of things, where we are is fine and we’ll get the points back. Our focus now changes to Wednesday.”
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