Celtic 2 AZ 0 as Kyogo Furuhashi inspires again to help clinch huge Europa League win

Red-hot Kyogo Furuhashi volleyed home his sixth Celtic goal to help fire the Hoops to a hard-earned Europa League qualifying victory over AZ.

The Japanese star – quickly establishing himself as a Parkhead hero – latched on to a brilliant Tom Rogic cross to open the scoring before James Forrest’s deflected second-half effort afforded the hosts breathing space.

Ange Postecoglou’s side now stand just 90 minutes away from the group stage ahead of next week’s second leg in the Netherlands.

The victory made it five in a row for the new manager, 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 but Zakaria Aboukhal went down very easily amid the attention of Stephen Welsh.

Celtic had a bigger let-off when 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.

Rogic appeared immune to the early shakiness affecting many of his team-mates 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 pushed for a quick second. Abada and Rogic forced a double save and the same pair both had shots blocked after good wing play from Anthony Ralston.

Rogic continued to thread passes and almost got Forrest and Furuhashi in behind. The Scotland winger soon came close with a curling effort that was clawed away from the top corner.

There were still occasional threats from AZ and Hart made a good diving stop from Aboukhal after Carl Starfelt had given the ball away.

A Welsh header and long-range David Turnbull strike were off target before half-time.

Cetic also had a major reprieve early in the second half after Starfelt failed to cut out a through ball. Welsh snuffed out the initial danger with a sliding challenge and Thijs Oosting shot over from eight yards after the loose ball fell perfectly for the left-back.

Greg Taylor diverted an Aboukhal shot just wide and the Celtic support raised the decibel level, recognising their team needed support. Postecoglou also responded, bringing on Edouard for Abada.

Celtic soon went two up 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 and wrong-footed the goalkeeper.

The noise levels went up further as the home support enjoyed the two-goal cushion, although there was a moment of silence before Ralston further enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a sliding clearance in the six-yard box.

Rogic came close to the goal his overall play deserved with a long-range strike that was pushed over the crossbar.

The Australian and Furuhashi were replaced by James McCarthy and Adam Montgomery for the final 15 minutes and Celtic looked like they had settled for two.

However, they had a string of efforts after Ralston got to the byline and cut the ball back. Edouard was denied twice by the goalkeeper before Montgomery’s header was cleared off the line.