Celtic play their second and final game of the Japan tour against Gamba Osaka on Saturday.
The Hoops took part in a manic 6-4 defeat to Yokohama F. Marinos on Wednesday and will be looking to continue their pre-season preparations with another strong run-out in Osaka.
Brendan Rodgers has already explained that he is likely to use his squad differently for the clash at the Panasonic Stadium. We can expect to see two completely different Celtic teams start each half.
But what about the opposition? On the face of it, Gamba Osaka look a weaker opponent than F. Marinos. They sit 13th in the 18 team J1 League, and only avoided relegation by one point in 2022.
But the team led by Spaniard Dani Poyatos are actually on a real upward curve right now as the form side in the top-flight.
Osaka have taken more points from their last five league matches (13) than any other team in the league. In total, they’ve won seven of their last nine matches.
The Nerazzurri are of course the former team of Yosuke Ideguchi, who we signed him from in 2022. Ideguchi started his career at the club before returning in 2019 after his failed move to Europe.
You shouldn’t expect to see him on Saturday though. He’s currently on loan from Celtic at Avispa Fukuoka.
Looking at their squad, which is made up almost entirely of players from Japan, there is one name that jumps out. Attacker Ryotaro Meshino may not be someone you’re totally familiar with, but he did spend a season at Hearts in the Premiership in 2019/20.
Meshino even netted a memorable goal in a 1-1 draw against Rangers at Tynecastle. He was on loan from Manchester City at that stage, but moved back to Japan in 2022.
So they’re in-form and should offer us another strong challenge tomorrow.
Kick-off is at 7pm in Japan, or a much earlier 11am if you live in Scotland or surrounding nations.
In other news, Kyogo Furuhashi has been struggling with a shoulder problem in pre-season
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