GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JULY 10: Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi scores to make it 4-2 during a pre-season friendly match between Queen's Park and Celtic at the City Stadium, on July 10, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ross MacDonald/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Six weeks after lifting the Scottish Cup, Celtic were back at Hampden, taking on Queens Park in a pre-season friendly at the City Stadium, formerly Lesser Hampden.
Judging by the cheers for each of their six goals it seems like a large number of Celtic fans went undercover to watch the match while the tenements on Somerville Drive and the grassy bank behind the other goal provided some decent vantage points.
There were no signings in the Celtic side that started the match but Matt O’Riley was back and wearing the armband, scoring a goal before half-time to show that his summer travels haven’t had a negative impact on his game.
Kyogo Furuhashi was the star of the show, showing all of the movement that he is famous for to ghost away from defenders matched by a deadly touch around goal.
While the wait goes on to see if Adam Idah will be returning to Celtic it looks like Kyogo is entering his fourth season with the same energy and enthusiasm as he showed when he arrived in Scotland.
Second half substitutes Oh Hyeon-kyu and Francis Turley also scored with the young Irishman catching the attention of Brendan Rodgers.
Some of the international contingent will return to training over the next few days, next week the squad heads off to the USA for a demanding schedule of matches against DC United, Manchester City and Chelsea over the course of a week.
CELTIC: Bain, Tomoki, Welsh, Murray, Kobayashi, Lawal, O’Riley, Holm, Yang, M.Johnston, Kyogo
Subs: Siegrist, Oluwayemi, Clarke, Oh, Kwon, Frame, Agbaire, Robertson, Dede, Ure, Donovan, Hatton, Turley
