Alistair Johnston has playful Celtic message for 'rivals' Kyogo and Hatate as dinner plans made after facing off

The Canadian defender reckons he faces 'rivals' that are normally teammates on Friday.

Alistair Johnston has told his Celtic teammates they're 'rivals' now on international duty.

The Canadian defender will take on formidable Kyogo and in-form Reo Hatate when they square off in a friendly with Japan on Friday, with the former CF Montreal full back well aware of the threats posed by the Far East stars. Johnston has seen up close what terrifying attacker Kyogo can produce, but the 28-year-old is still to show his true colours for the Samurai Blue. One man who won't join the Hoops-themed friendly is Daizen Maeda. The nifty winger was withdrawn from the squad through injury and could face a period on the sidelines for Brendan Rodgers' men.

Meanwhile Johnston is hoping to make it cap number 37 for Les Rouges, but knows the task ahead to stop Hajime Moriyasu's men is a tough one. Yet the 25-year-old revealed he will chat with his Parkhead pals post-match, and that he hopes it can be over a delicious sushi meal, given that Scotland doesn't have any restaurants of that variety according to his tastebuds.

He said: "I’ve been talking a lot about this friendly match with Japanese boys since this match was announced. I’m very sorry that Daizen can’t come to Japan this time, but the other boys are in great spirits.

“They are my teammates and rival players, so I talked to them and we'll look back together about the match after tomorrow’s friendly. We are usually teammates, but I want to be wary of them so that we never let them to score a goal. Also, both of them are in very good condition now, so I recognise that the match is very tough for us to stop them. By the way, unfortunately there are no delicious sushi restaurants in Scotland, so if possible, I would like to go eat delicious sushi with Japanese boys in Japan.”