Borussia Dortmund manager Nuri Sahin declared himself a huge fan of Celtic forward Kyogo Furuhashi ahead of their Champions League meeting.

The 29-year-old has scored four goals in his last four matches ahead of Tuesday’s encounter at Signal Iduna Park, including one in Celtic’s 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava on matchday one.

When asked about Celtic’s main threats, Sahin said: “If you really want a name, I’m a big, big fan of your striker.

“Furuhashi is not a typical striker like we are used to, a big one. But he is very smart and I really like how he moves off the ball, the timing of his runs. I see a very smart guy there tactically.”

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Furuhashi netted twice in a 6-0 win over St Johnstone on Saturday which made it 17 consecutive victories for Brendan Rodgers’ side, and Sahin is definitely not underestimating the threat posed by his visitors from Glasgow.

When asked if Celtic were underdogs who could spring a surprise, the 36-year-old said: “You’re talking about a team who haven’t lost for many games and haven’t even lost a goal in their league. They were very dominant in their first match in the Champions League.

“What can you say about Celtic? They are a very prestigious club with amazing talent in their squad and a fantastic coach.

“It will be a challenge for us, but at the same time a big challenge, a huge challenge, which they didn’t have this season, playing in our stadium. I’m really looking forward to it.

“I don’t think it’s fair to call them underdogs to be honest.”

Sahin will be reunited with his former Liverpool manager and was keen to stress his respect for Rodgers.

Quotes from 2014 emerged in the build-up to the game where the former Turkey international declared he had been thankful to be away from Rodgers after being played in a more advanced midfield position than he was accustomed to.

Sahin cut a loan to Anfield from Real Madrid short to take up a similar move to Dortmund before making a permanent return to the club where he made almost 300 appearances over two spells.

Looking back at his time under Rodgers, he said: “Before the transfer we had a lot of conversations. I think he’s originally from Northern Ireland but he has a Spanish vibe – he loves possession in football.

“I liked his training sessions, they were very interesting, I was already taking notes for my own coaching career. We meet again 10 years on and I’m looking forward to the duel.”

When asked if it has been a difficult time, Sahin said: “Absolutely not. I don’t know what I said back in the day when I was young but the only thing was I played in a different position than I usually played.

“The problem for me was Steven Gerrard played in my position. So I had to adjust with my position, and this was the only thing.

“Everything else, I really enjoyed my time at Liverpool and also under Brendan. I enjoyed every training session with him, his ideas were very possession-oriented, playing in the opposition half. I can only say good things about him and my time there.

“When you get a call from Dortmund, as a Dortmund boy, you go back home. That’s the only reason.”