Kyogo Furuhashi scored his sixth Celtic goal in a 2-0 Europa League qualifying victory over AZ Alkmaar in Glasgow. The Japan forward settled Celtic’s early nerves after a brilliant assist from Tom Rogic, and James Forrest scored a deflected second-half goal to ensure his side take a decent lead into the second leg of the play-off.
Celtic were denied a late third amid a dramatic goalmouth scramble but the Dutch side showed enough going forward to suggest the return leg will be far from a formality.
The victory made it five in a row for new manager Ange Postecoglou, who brought in the fit-again Liel Abada for Odsonne Edouard. There was no place for Leigh Griffiths among the 11 substitutes.
The visitors had an early penalty appeal and Celtic then had a bigger let-off when the AZ skipper Teun Koopmeiners broke down the right and crossed for Vangelis Pavlidis, whose shot seemed destined for the net only for Joe Hart’s toe to divert if off the inside of a post and into the goalkeeper’s hands.
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Rogic appeared immune to the early shakiness affecting many of his teammates and he almost put Furuhashi away with a searching through ball before setting up the Japan forward for the opening goal in the 12th minute. The Australian shimmied his way to the byline and crossed for Furuhashi to show his agility and volley home from close range.
Celtic doubled their advantage in the 61st minute. Furuhashi played the ball in to Forrest, who had his back to goal but managed to get in a shot which took a major deflection off Timo Letschert.