IT was a goal fit to grace any stage, and a move that seemed preconceived, surely honed on the training pitch before it was executed to perfection in the Champions League.
But Matt O’Riley’s pass into Kyogo Furuhashi to score Celtic’s opener against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, perhaps fittingly, came from somewhere altogether more ethereal.
Call it instinct, call it telepathy, whatever intangible force you will. All that O’Riley knows is that in the moment, he was so tuned into what his teammate was going to do, and the run he was going to make, that splitting one of the best defences in European football to find his striker was the most natural thing in the world.
Kyogo did the rest, producing a calm, improvised finish past Jan Oblak to lift the roof off Celtic Park, but O’Riley’s first-time pass into him was another outstanding addition to his burgeoning personal highlight reel in these early months of the season.
According to the modest 22-year-old though, the brilliance of Kyogo and the relationship they enjoy makes his job of laying on chances for the striker an ‘easy’ one.
“It comes very naturally at this point,” O’Riley said.
“Most of my assists last season came through him just because his movement is so good, and it is so easy to play with him.
“So, as soon as he passed me the ball I knew where he was going to be, and it was just a case of executing the pass.
“I think there is a natural chemistry there between us. Good players kind of understand each other quite naturally, and the more you play with someone, then naturally, the better the understanding. But he makes it really, really easy for me because his movement is so good.
“I probably see the game in a certain way, and he sees it in a similar way in terms of his movement, so it just clicks really well.