Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, and Daizen Maeda all shined in their own right as they guided Glasgow Celtic to a resounding 9-0 win away at Dundee United in last Sunday’s Scottish Premiership action.
Former Vissel Kobe man Furuhashi scored a hat-trick and assisted once while both Hatate and Maeda bagged themselves an assist each as Celtic ran rampant at Tannadice Park, ruthlessly slaughtering a Dundee United side who hasn’t won any of their five league games so far.
The huge defeat was Dundee United’s second of this month, with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar having pulverized the Tangerines 7-0 at the AFAS Stadium earlier on August 12th in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers.
Israeli winger Liel Abada also scored a hat-trick while Portuguese attacker Jota bagged himself a brace. Defenders Carl Starfelt and Josip Juranovic scored one a piece to complete the rout.
Furuhashi put Celtic ahead after 15 minutes after skillfully latching onto a Jota pass before firing home past Carljohan Eriksson in the Dundee United goal, before going straight for the top corner in the 40th minute to double the Bhoys’ lead.
Japan international Furuhashi’s hat-trick was completed in the second minute of stoppage time, tapping in an Abada pass to force Eriksson to pick the ball out of his net for the third time, before Jota made it 4-0 with the last kick of the first half.
The second half saw Furuhashi stepping back and Abada taking on the spotlight, the Israeli making it 5-0 after 50 minutes.
Juranovic then scored Celtic’s sixth of the game five minutes later – thanks to some magic from Furuhashi – before Hatate found Abada in the 59th minute, the latter easily making it 7-0 in Celtic’s favor.
Both Maeda and Aaron Mooy combined in the 77th minute to allow Abada to complete his hat-trick, before Starfelt put Dundee United out of their misery in the 81st minute with a powerful header.
The thumping win allowed Celtic to maintain their position on top of the Scottish Premiership table with five wins out of five, scoring 21 goals and conceding only once. Dundee United, on the other hand, are rock-bottom in the league table, a shadow of themselves from last season when they finished 4th in the league.