Kieran Tierney reunited with Shunsuke Nakamura two decades on from famous Celtic clip

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Kieran Tierney has been reunited with Shunsuke Nakamura, two decades on from receiving his boots as a Celtic academy player.

In 2006, a young Tierney was training with the club’s academy when first-team star Nakamura joined the session.

Impressed by the youngster’s performance, Nakamura handed his match-worn boots to a starstruck Tierney, naming him the best player of the day.

The clip became famous after the defender’s emergence as a first-team player at Celtic, and the pair have now been reunited after 20 years.

Shunsuke Nakamura visits Kieran Tierney at Scotland training

Tierney was training with the Scotland team at Lesser Hampden when, just hours after touching down in Glasgow for the first time in over a decade, Nakamura paid him a visit.

The legendary midfielder is back in Glasgow to work on Japan’s friendly at Hampden on Saturday. The clip, via U-NEXT, is just as wholesome as you’d imagine.

READ MORE: Celtic set unique European record with Luke McCowan goal vs Stuttgart

Only football draws up stories like this.

Fans in both Japan and Scotland were in disbelief when the original clip resurfaced after Tierney’s first-team breakthrough in 2015-16.

The mere fact that he went onto play for the first team is remarkable enough, but the fact that the 28-year-old has now made over 200 appearances and captained the Hoops on multiple occasions makes it feel truly prophetic.

It’s important to also note that this friendly wouldn’t happening if it wasn’t for Tierney’s incredible last-minute winner against Denmark, which ensured that Scotland wouldn’t need this month’s play-offs to qualify for the World Cup.

Nakamura would’ve been proud of the strike, which bent beyond Kasper Schmeichel into the far corner.

The Samurai Blue have been training in Dumbarton ahead of the game – Daizen Maeda is the only of Celtic’s current Japanese contingent who will be involved.

After the game at Hampden, Japan travel to face England at Wembley, whilst Scotland face Ivory Coast at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool.

Celtic players involved at this summer’s World Cup

Benjamin Nygren and Sweden kept their World Cup hopes alive with a win over Ukraine in the semi-finals of this week’s play-offs.

Liam Scales and Ireland weren’t so fortunate, being eliminated by Czechia in a heart-breaking penalty shootout in Prague.

Sebastian Tounekti and Tunisia also have also avoided the stress of play-offs this month, as have Marcelo Saracchi and Uruguay.

Alistair Johnston and Auston Trusty will both be playing for tournament hosts.