Kyogo Furuhashi confesses to Ange Postecoglou teasing as Celtic striker stretches goal target

There were giggles aplenty from both Kyogo Furuhashi and his interpreter when the burning question of the week was dared to be put to the Celtic striker.

Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates opening the scoring in the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock next week. Now the Japanese striker hopes he can play in enough games to reach a magic mark for the campaign. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

The enquiry to the Japanese striker ran along the following lines: ‘You tweeted about your old club Vissel Kobe beating Yokohama Marinos 3-2 this week, was it to wind up your Celtic manager and team-mate Daizen Maeda?’ The answer, following lots of laughing, took the form of the 27-year-old admitting he had been rumbled.

“You are right. I don’t know what to say…it is complicated. They are from Marinos!” said Furuhashi. “Anyway it was a good game and we didn’t know until the last minute which team was going to win. Marinos could have won, but this is football. I think it was a very exciting game, and watching them made me more passionate and inspires me for Celtic.”

The predator hardly needs any more inspiration. Two goals already this season, he heads into his club’s hosting of Hearts on Sunday with six goals in the seven starts since he returned from long-term injury in April. In the 13 months since his £4.7m move from Vissel, 22 goals have come from only 36 outings. The buzzing forward has stated previously he wants to equal the 20 mark from his first campaign - achieved despite missing almost half of it with hamstring problems. Now, he is willing to make another confession. “First at least I have to score 20 goals,” said the jewel in Celtic’s crown. “Then if I can participate in all games I would like, I want to have 25 and then 30 goals in the season.”

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