Kyogo: Taming of Ibrox can help us with De Kuip cauldron

Originally posted on The Celtic Star | By Paul Gillespie | Last updated 9/18/23

Kyogo Furuhashi helped silence Ibrox a few weeks back and insists that particular experience can help the Bhoys handle the potential powderkeg atmosphere inside the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam this Tuesday. The Japanese international and his teammates will travel to the Netherlands today ahead of our Champions League opener with Feyenoord, which gives us the opportunity to get points on the board.

It will undoubtedly be a cauldron when the Celts take to the field and the ground is famous for its ability to create sound, whilst their supporters are very aggressive at times. Kyogo reckons that the Hoops will handle it no bother though, after we tamed the support inside Ibrox on the 3 September, putting us four points ahead in the title race of the Govan club. Kyogo said ahead of the tie: “We got the result in theRangers game so that showed we can handle the atmosphere,” as reported by Daily Record.

“We got the win on Saturday as well, so we are in a good flow at the moment. Hopefully we can keep it going. The bigger the stages, the more I get excited. I really enjoy playing under that pressure in games like the finals, the derby matches and Champions League. In my position, everyone works hard to give me the service, so it is not just about the striker. But I do enjoy playing in these big game atmospheres.”

The man who scored again against St Johnstone at at weekend is full of belief and has revealed that the team are going all out to win.

He said: “The first target has to get the win on Tuesday. That is all we are thinking about right now because that will make our supporters happy. After that we will see. It would be brilliant if we could progress through the group stages. It will be a different kind of challenge in the Champions League against Feyenoord. Like all of the opponents at that level, they are a very good team and we will be away from home. We just need to focus on our preparations and hopefully we can get a good result.”

With Kyogo on form, anything is possible but the manager and players will have to get the game plan spot on. Feyenoord have been scoring for fun lately and they smashed Heerenveen 6-1 at the weekend too. The saving grace is that they will be without the in-form Santiago Gimenez for this fixture and also Kyogo’s fellow countryman, Ayase Ueda. Despite this though, they will have quality all over the park and Celtic must play the game and not the occasion.

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This article first appeared on The Celtic Star and was syndicated with permission.

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