Alistair Johnston insists his Celtic team-mates Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate are now his "rivals" ahead of Canada taking on Japan in a friendly.

The two sides square off tomorrow and the left-back made clear he is fully focused on the match.

He also stated he was disappointed that Daizen Maeda is not involved, after he withdrew from the Japan squad through injury.

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.

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"We are usually team-mates, 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."