As silence descended on Ibrox, Kyogo reeled off joyously to celebrate with his teammates in the unsettling absence of away fans.
It was yet another brilliant, instinctive finish from a player who has repeatedly silenced any critics since joining Celtic. Ignorance accompanied Kyogo’s arrival in Glasgow as some questioned whether a relatively unknown striker was good enough to become Celtic’s main man.
20 goals despite an injury-disrupted debut season ended any debate, but discerning voices pointed to his inability to score against Rangers.
Kyogo’s sublime winner in the first Old Firm of the season was his sixth goal in five games against Rangers - another criticism ended. The 28-year-old has been a revelation at Parkhead, but scoring in the Champions League represents the final challenge.
Kyogo failed to register a goal in European football’s premier club competition as Celtic finished bottom of their group, but Brendan Rodgers has every confidence that he will avenge that.
“Well he’s a top-class finisher, there’s no doubt about that,” Rodgers replied when asked if Kyogo was Champions League quality. I think he was out injured wasn’t he last season and then coming back? This will be great for him.
“He’s definitely got the qualities to go and shine at that level. He’s fast, he’s direct, he’s a good finisher, he’s constant in his pressure .That is the level and when you look at other top strikers around Europe, they normally have those attributes.”
Kyogo's profligacy in front of goal in last season’s group stages was at odds with his usual lethal finishing. Despite facing quality opposition against Real Madrid, Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic’s determination to maintain their attacking principles yielded chances.
Kyogo, however, spurned numerous opportunities but Rodgers insists the Japanese international will have learned from his Champions League experiences.
Rodgers added: “I don’t think he’s under pressure, he’s certainly not under any pressure from here.It’s just such a clinical level, you have to take your chances. The experiences of last year will help them. I always say to them, you win, or you learn. You never lose. You learn.
“I’m pretty sure the experiences of last season will help them. I can already sense the excitement of coming into the competition and seeing if we can do a wee bit better result-wise.”
Kyogo survived a first-half injury scare to score his fourth goal of the season against Dundee and he will lead the line in Rotterdam on Tuesday night.
Feyenoord, Lazio and Atletico Madrid represent a tricky group and Celtic will need to reverse their dreadful recent European record to preserve any ambitions of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Celtic’s last win in the Champions League arrived seven years ago under Rodgers with a 3-0 away to Anderlecht and they’ve not won at Parkhead in the group stage of the competition for a decade.
“It is a long time ago,” Rodgers admitted on that Anderlecht win. “ But it was a great night and it was great for the supporters. You need a lot of things to go your way in the Champions League, to get the results.
“As long as we look to give everything in the games and stay strong and stay together, we have shown at Rangers that we have that togetherness and that personality. It is about letting that show.
On Celtic’s home record, Rodgers added: “It’s more about where the levels in the game have gone. We had a really good game against Bayern Munich. Just lost out. The game is about levels, you saw it the other night in the Scotlandvs.s England game.
“Scotland are a really good team, they’ve beaten Spain and yet England have some of the best player in the world. You are trying to create something that can challenge that.”
Celtic endured some heavy defeats in the Champions League during Rodgers’ first tenure. They conceded 12 goals across two games to PSG in 2017 and Rodgers is determined to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
“When you lose any game it is always difficult,” he admitted. “If you lose heavily it’s never nice. You know the players have given their all and they have just come across world-class talent. With Barcelona, 4-0 was par for what they were doing to most teams in La Liga.
“Better teams than us. It was that going into the last ten minutes and then they scored three more and it put some salt and pepper on the result. PSG – we were 1-0 up too early! We actually had Craig Gordon to thank for making a couple of great saves.
“So it’s hard as a professional and you have to fight. As long as the players have given absolutely everything, then if you get undone with sheer quality, then I understand what can happen against players of top quality. It’s not nice but you have to grieve and get on with it.”
Europe offers a different challenge than Celtic are used to domestically. They won’t dominate possession and their defence - missing the influential Cameron Carter-Vickers - will face increased scrutiny and Rodgers will adopt a more conservative approach.
“It is about educated pressure,” Rodgers admitted. “You have to look to impose your way and give them something to think about, and play without fear but know that you have to defend and defend well. You can’t always be pressing high, sometimes you will be forced back. But that happened to us in the last game as well. Any top team, no matter how good you are, you are going to have periods when you don’t have the ball. It’s just about staying strong in those moments.”
