Birthday boy Kyogo Furuhashi has ticked every big-game box as a Celtic player.
But Wednesday night’s seismic Champions League crunch against Young Boys offers the Japanese an opportunity to present Celtic the gift of his crowning glory. Despite not scoring in the last two games, the livewire looks ready to take it. For three-and-a-half years, Kyogo, who turns 30 on Tuesday, has stepped up to every mark.
In the biggest games on the most-vital of occasions, the attacker has come up trumps. Domestically, he has been the club’s go-to man from from virtually the moment he walked in the front door. In his very first Final as a Celtic player, he dragged the team off the canvas at 1-0 down to Hibs to strike twice and secure the League Cup and Hampden has since become a home-from home with the scrutiny of more major occasions being taken easily in his lightning stride.
Old Firm matches have become Kyogo days. He has made it his business to carve apart a Rangers backline.
His early experiences on the continent were in the Europa League and he scored on debut against FK Jablonec under Ange Postecoglou.
Naturally, the step up to the stiffer challenges of Champions League under the Aussie took some time for adjustment. Unlike in the domestic game, a lack of involvement and some periods of isolation left Kyogo struggling for chances and goals in season one at the top table.
For an individual who was running riot on the domestic scene, it was a blank against the best, yet, typically, Kyogo soon got the hang of it. With a couple of brilliant goals in home games against Lazio and Atletico Madrid, he was off and running against the elite.
This season began by bagging against Slovan Bratislava, but, both at home and abroad, he has since been outgunned by the boys on either side of him. Not many would have predicted a scenario where Kyogo sat third in the scoring stakes at Parkhead with over half of the campaign concluded, yet that’s the current situation due to the magnificent work of both Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn.
With 16 goals in all competitions this term, the German leads the way in that department and has been a revelation.
Maeda has also been a constant threat and has 15 on the board, which is three more for Celtic this term than his compatriot.
In the Champions League, the wing kings have also made more of an impact in the scoring stakes. Maeda was also off the mark on night one against the Slovaks and his next against Borussia Dortmund remains the club’s only counter away from home during this continental campaign.
Incredible workrate and running power to close down opposition is a huge asset, but Maeda is finding big moments this season and there was none bigger than the marvellously-taken equaliser against Club Brugge when Rodgers’ team were in a hole against the Belgians.
In the previous game, it was Kuhn who really ignited the Euro campaign with his magical double against RB Leipzig which surged Celtic into pole position to make it into the play-off stages, a position they still hold heading into battle against the Swiss.
But, as Rodgers said just last week when talking about Adam Idah’s recent lack of productivity in front of the target, he doesn’t need his strikers to be scoring to be making an impact. For an example of that, you only have to look back to the weekend Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock to see Kyogo’s vital importance even when he is not putting the ball in the net.
For Callum McGregor’s opener in the 2-1 win, it was the Japanese who offered short and linked Cameron Carter-Vickers’ pass onto his captain. Killie defenders were criticised for not getting out quicker to McGregor before he shot home, but they didn’t do so because Kyogo put hesitancy into their minds by darting straight off his own lay-off and making a run into a box which left them in two minds.
It was the same for Maeda’s winner. Kyogo again came short to get Kuhn moving towards the box. Not content with that, he then spun and drove 30 yards to the penalty box with a run which, along with the German’s menacing advance, drew defenders to leave the goalscorer free to take the pass.
While Kuhn and Maeda have provided plenty for their colleagues, Kyogo also deserves a rake of assists he doesn’t even get credited for because he doesn’t touch the ball due to his movement and ability to distract defenders which opens key gaps.
However, when it comes to the biggest scoring moments for Celtic since the start of the 2021/22 campaign, Kyogo has been, more often than not, the one to deliver. With Idah not in form in recent weeks, the central striking responsibility is going to fall onto the Japanese.
Midway through his fourth season with the champions, there is interest in Kyogo from outside of Glasgow and it could be that he doesn’t have many more of these big European nights and occasions to come with Celtic.
So, given his past successes and knack of producing when it counts in the green-and-white, the timing seems absolutely perfect for him being the one to strike the telling blow and push Celtic’s next big step in the Champions League.