Celtic trained in Gamba Osaka’s Panasonic Stadium on Friday as their Japan tour continued.
It’s been a busy few weeks for members of the Celtic first-team with a week-long training camp in Portugal followed closely by a more high-profile trip to Japan.
The Celts have trained hard, travelled a lot and played one match so far — an absorbing 6-4 loss to Yokohama F. Marinos.
Gamba Osaka are the opponents on Saturday, but the team were training as normal 24 hours prior.
They had some special visitors to training as well. As the club announced in a tweet, a group of kids from the Celtic Soccer Academy Japanese camps got the opportunity to meet the first-team players and watch training.
It was a lovely move that must have made the kids feel a million dollars.
In April, Celtic delivered their first coaching camps in Japan. They ran three camps — in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Hiroshima — with over 130 players benefitting.
The camps consisted of a mixture of practical and classroom lessons, with the latter including education on the history of Celtic. (Celtic)
These camps were seen as a success with the club planning more in the future. It’s pleasing to see us trying to build a strong following in Japan.
Summer pre-season trips to the country, with Champions League qualification not in doubt, seem like a good move for all. Not least the kids that got to sample training today.
In other news, Odin Thiago Holm was spotted training with the first team on Friday
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