The Celtic Star reported on the 23rd anniversary of one of the greatest Celtic legends of all time, Henrik Larsson, earlier. Despite falling below that category (most aside of Jinky do), Shunsuke Nakamura was a player who achieved hero status among the Celtic faithful very quickly.
Naka was renowned as one of the best free kick takers in the world and he found the net from dead ball situations with incredible regularity. It’s well documented that he scored that famous free kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park to send the Hoops through to the last 16 of the Champions League back in 2006. However, Naka also scored many other free kicks of huge importance, such as the goal to clinch the league title at Rugby Park and a last minute winner at St Mirren during the ‘Title for Tommy Season’.
Still playing professionally in Japan today, Nakamura signed for Celtic from Reggina on this day back in 2005. The deal was reportedly in the region of 3 million euros and he enjoyed a trophy laden four years in Glasgow, before leaving to Espanol.
You can enjoy Naka’s highlights, including a hat-trick at Tannadice, in the video below:
