Kyogo Furuhashi has confirmed he is fully fit and ready to stage more League Cup final heroics as Celtic take on Rangers at Hampden Park.
The Japanese striker picked up a nasty shoulder knock during the club’s recent Scottish Cup match against St Mirren, but he quickly returned to training and was utilised off the bench against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership last weekend.
With a full week of training behind him, Kyogo will likely start up top against Rangers and the club’s top scorer is raring to go after having scored his first goal against the Ibrox outfit in the last league match between the sides.
“I am looking forward to it,” he explained. “I am excited about the game. We have prepared as a team, and I am prepared myself too. My shoulder is feeling good.
“After that injury, I had a lot of positive support from my team-mates and the Celtic staff.
I was able to return to football because of them and I want to pay them all back in two days' time.”
Kyogo was an injury doubt for last season’s edition of the final as Celtic took on Hibernian at the national stadium, but he ultimately pulled through at the last minute to bag two goals to win the contest.
And the 28-year-old is now hoping for more of the same, especially given Celtic’s opponents this time round. He continued: “I was very happy to achieve the trophy together with the fans last season. I was very happy to score two goals to help the team. It was one of the most memorable moments of my career.
“I would love to repeat this on Sunday. I was happy to score an important goal against Rangers last time out. It was an important game too. So I would like to score more goals.
“Every game is important in Scotland but this one is a big opponent. I would like to play more of these derby games.”
Kyogo is one of the favourites to land the player of the season accolades in Scotland given his impressive goal and assist return this season, but the striker believes a number of his teammates will also be in the running.
He said: “First of all thank you for saying I may be a contender for player of the year, I am very humble.
"I genuinely enjoy football. I don’t think about other things. I focus on playing well, scoring goals and contributing to the team.
"Joe Hart, Callum McGregor, Cameron Carter-Vickers….. there are so many players I can’t decide on a player of the season.
“In terms of Reo Hatate, he is a versatile hard-working and talented player. I am honoured to be in the same team as him but we have so many talented players which helps us prepare for every game.”
Kyogo also went on to hail his teammate’s performances in the Champions League and he hopes this season’s European experiences will help the club moving forward.
He added: “In the Real Madrid game we made so many chances. We couldn’t score because they are a fantastic team. We were very disappointed by that but I think we played very well overall.
“Next season it would be a great opportunity to play in the competition again and play against some of the best teams in Europe.
“I think we will be a better team. There is no such thing as complete but we aim high every time we train and play a game. So we will look to improve next season and play better.”
