As Celtic prepare to face Yokohama F Marinos in the first leg of the Japanese Tour, all eyes will be on the Nissan Stadium as the fans get to see their heroes in action for the first time this season.
The Hoops support will be fully focused on looking at the team’s set-up, style of play and possibly catching a glimpse of new signing Odin Thiago Holm or any new youth prospects that have been taken along for the pre-season tour.
But it was the upcoming Champions League that was on the Japanese players’ minds as they took part in a meet and greet with Shunsuke Nakamura to promote the upcoming clash with Yokohama.
They were all asked who they would like to face when the group stages kick-off in September and every one of them set their sights on some of the biggest names in European football. [Ultra Soccer]
Tomiki Iwata wants to face English Premier League champions, Manchester City. The last time the Hoops faced Pep Guardiola’s men in 2016, we were undefeated after a 3-3 draw at Celtic Park and a 1-1 stalemate at The Etihad.
Yuki Kobayashi had a personal reason for choosing Barcelona. The Celtic defender was a teammate of the legendary Andres Iniesta at Vissel Kobe and fancies his chances against the Spaniard’s former club.
Reo Hatate wants a rematch with Real Madrid. The midfielder said, “Real Madrid. We couldn’t get by them last year, so I want to try again to see how much we’ve grown over the past year.”
Indeed, Celtic put up a brave showing at Celtic Park but were eventually outclassed at home 3-0 and at the Bernabeu were we went down 5-1 to the Galacticos.
Daizen Maeda was bullish about the whole thing. The Celtic winger simply said, “I don’t know. I want to play anywhere”. Absolutely no fear shown by the Celtic speed king. He’ll take on anyone.
And finally, Kyogo Furuhashi fancies a trip to either Italy to face Napoli or the Bundesliga to take on the German champions Bayern Munich.
Celtic have never faced Napoli before in Europe and after winning their first title in 33 years, the Italians will go into next season’s competition brimming with confidence.
Whoever is drawn against the Hoops you can be guaranteed one thing, the Celtic fans, just like Maeda, will not care who we get as we will fear no one heading into Europe’s top competition.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers evaluates Reo Hatate; Celtic boss addresses transfer rumours
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