| Venue: Hampden Park, Glasgow Date: Saturday, 3 June Kick-off: 17:30 BST |
| Coverage: Watch on BBC One Scotland, BBC Scotland & BBC iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 5 live & BBC Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app |
Kyogo Furuhashi did not need the help of his interpreter to understand one particular question during a pre-Scottish Cup final interview with BBC Scotland – the one about Hampden Park.
The mere mention of the place brings a huge smile across the face of Celtic’s talisman.
“We like the stadium,” he says. “It’s not just me. As a team we’ve scored a lot of goals there and on Saturday I would like to score as many goals as I can and try to help the team win the cup.”
History demonstrates that scoring goals at the national stadium is what Kyogo does. In his first season in Scotland, he scored a brace to fire Celtic to victory in the League Cup final against Hibernian.
The Japanese striker repeated the trick in this season’s final, another double proving the difference as Ange Postecoglou’s side beat Rangers to take the first step on a treble bid that will reach its conclusion on Saturday.
There were concerns when Kyogo limped off in the final league match against Aberdeen last weekend that he might be a doubt for the final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but he says he “is preparing well”.
His demeanour is not one that suggests a man sweating on his fitness.
The 28-year-old is a player in the form of his life. He has scored 33 goals this season, his 27 in the Premiership ensuring he became the first Japanese player to top the scoring charts in a European league.
It’s quite a return for a player that often found himself out on the wing when playing in his homeland for FC Gifu and Vissel Kobe earlier in his career.
“A lot of people told me when I was playing on the wing that I had problems with my style,” Kyogo explains.
“I started to watch Pedro, the former Barcelona player, and nick some of his skills. Also David Villa because I used to play with him at Kobe. He had so many skills that I try to imitate. Those two players are the ones that I watched the most.”
Since he arrived in Scotland, Kyogo has looked every inch the master marksman. The intelligence of his movement, the insatiable work-rate, the ice-cool composure when a chance presents itself.
In his two seasons at Celtic, he has been the most influential striker in the country.
It made it all the more difficult to fathom when Kyogo was deemed surplus to requirements by his own country and missed out on selection for the Japan squad for the World Cup in Qatar late last year.
“At the time it was very difficult for me to cope,” says Kyogo, who has 16 international caps.
“I was very disappointed. However, all my team-mates said ‘you will be fine, you’ll be ok, you’ll perform very well for the rest of the season’.
“All that support from my team-mates helped me a lot and I started to believe in myself again. I kept working hard every day after this and I think that’s why I have delivered good performances, because I kept believing in myself.”
Kyogo’s response to his World Cup omission has been seriously impressive, and his scoring exploits in Scotland have belatedly been recognised with a recall to the national team for the friendlies against El Salvador and Peru later this month.
If he can carry some of his club form onto the international stage, perhaps he will attain some of the adulation in his homeland that he enjoys from the green half of Glasgow.
“Normally I stay at home, but sometimes I go out and try to find some places in Glasgow,” Kyogo says of his life away from the pitch.
“When I do I get recognised very quickly and the people tell me that they love me. I’m very happy to feel like I am loved.”
If he produces more of his Hampden heroics on Saturday, the Celtic fans will love him even more.
