Celtic moved to within touching distance of a second successive Scottish Premiership title, and their 11th in 12 seasons, thanks to a 3-2 victory over nearest challengers Rangers on Saturday at Celtic Park.
The five-goal thriller in Glasgow’s east end was a great advert for the Scottish game with the hosts’ scoring through Jota and a brace from their main marksman Kyogo Furuhashi. The Portuguese scored with ease, but as is so often the case, Saturday was about the man from Japan.
He appeared to have opened the scoring after chesting down a wonderful clip over the top from Alistair Johnston. But his excellent finish past Allan McGregor was correctly disallowed for offside, having gone a fraction too early behind the Rangers backline.
Yet, it wasn’t to be long before the 28-year-old slammed home the opener on the spin after receiving from Matt O’Riley. He grabbed his second after a defensive mishap from Rangers but his awareness, positioning, and the finish – from such a tight angle – can’t be underestimated.
Having failed to score against Rangers in three appearances last season, that’s back-to-back braces against the Gers in consecutive Glasgow derbies. Five goals in three against their city rivals, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Kyogo prove the difference at Hampden once again.
After bagging a brace on derby day, he moved onto 22 goals in the Scottish Premiership this season. He’s tied Odsonne Edouard’s best league return for Celtic - 22 goals in the 2019/20 season before it was curtailed due to COVID.
Now he’s aiming to become the Hoops’ most prolific league marksman since Leigh Griffiths in 2015/16, who scored 31 league goals, and 40 in all competitions. Only the former Scotland striker and Kris Commons (27 in 2013/14) have better Premiership strike rates for Celtic in the past decade.
Over a fifth of Celtic’s goals in the Scottish Premiership this season have come courtesy of Kyogo Furuhashi (22%). Averaging 2.6 shots per game, 22 goals in 29 appearances is a ridiculous return and at the weekend, he made it 12 goals in 12 starts at Celtic Park in the league this season.
He’s netted more goals (22) than Celtic’s next two highest contributors – Jota and Liel Abada – combined, who have netted 11 and 10, respectively. Kyogo’s compatriot Daizen Maeda has scored just seven league goals, in five fewer starts.
Of Furuhashi’s 2.6 shots per game, 1.8 are within the penalty box and just 0.2 outside the box. The remaining 0.6 is within six yards, which highlights the nature of Kyogo’s play.
Not a keen dribbler, averaging 0.5 per match, Furuhashi is a fox in the box with the sole task of scoring goals. No wonder he has developed a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'finishing', that in itself deemed to be very strong. Considering all the creativity that’s in the Celtic team, it’s perhaps surprising that he’s only contributed two assists for his teammates in the league this season.
Provide him with sufficient service, as the Hoops do in the domestic scene with the plethora of players they have, and it’s a recipe for success. After all, Giorgos Giakoumakis was able to score goals in his limited game time last season, but has subsequently left for Atlanta United.
The Scottish Premiership top scorer has scored the most clear-cut chances in Scotland’s top tier this season (19). Of the 76 players to muster 20 or more shots in the Scottish Premiership, only Kevin Nisbet (30%) and Duk (29.4%) have a better conversion rate than the Celtic hitman (29.3%).
It’d be scary to imagine the levels he would reach if he weren’t the most subbed-off player in the division. Ange Postecoglou takes all the necessary plaudits for his recruitment, which has been almost faultless.
However bringing Kyogo Furuhashi to Scotland from Japan was perhaps his most influential signing, there’s a reason he was one of the first that he brought to Glasgow. With a striker as prolific as the former Vissel Kobe man is, it’s no wonder they’ve got a domestic treble set firmly in their sights.
