There isn’t a more popular player at Celtic right now than Daizen Maeda.
On Tuesday night, Brendan Rodgers’ side headed to Bavaria trailing 2-1 to Bayern Munich in their Champions League playoff encounter.
Everything was against Celtic, from being away from home to the fact that Bayern Munich have a ridiculous home record, not just this season, but during the last ten years in Europe.
But Celtic provided the biggest of scares in Munich and were cruelly beaten by a late Alphonso Davies goal in stoppage time.
It wasn’t deserved and, at the very least, the Bhoys should have taken the tie to extra-time and they will even question how they didn’t score more goals in the first half.
After going into the break goalless, the away side remained calm and Maeda did what he does best.
The all-action forward chased down Bayern’s backline, pressed them into a mistake, fed a brilliant ball to Nicolas Kuhn and he opened the scoring in front of a stunned Allianz Arena.
Celtic fans laud Daizen Maeda despite Celtic losing Champions League tie to Bayern Munich
Maeda has been Celtic’s best player this season and he proved that against one of the best teams in Europe.
Celtic fans on social media understand and appreciate the quality of player they have on their hands because he was outstanding against Bayern.
And, many warned, if any team across Europe wants to buy him, then they have to pay serious, serious dough to secure his talents.
@SounessLouis was ecstatic with Maeda and stated: ‘Daizen Maeda deserves the Ballon D’or can’t change my mind’.
If anyone wants to buy Maeda, then @hctelfih has put a price on him: ‘Maeda, 100 million, no less’.
A performance of the highest order, as @mxrcskxnnxr wrote: ‘Maeda is absolutely world class. He’s our 30mil+ player’.
@99BenBray1 highlighted Maeda’s work without the ball and wrote: ‘Great pressing from Daizen Maeda again & Kühn slots home! Magnificent! Mon the Hoops!’
@CelticLass07 added: ‘daizen maeda’s pace and work rate is unbelievable, feel like i say it every week but there isn’t a player ive seen like him’.
Maeda’s stats for Celtic against Bayern Munich
Before the game, all the talk was about Rodgers starting Maeda up top and dropping Adam Idah to the bench.
It proved to be the correct call because the Japan star was one of his side’s best players and WhoScored rated his performance just under seven.
| Shots | Key Passes | Total tackles | Inter | Aerials Won | Touches | Rating |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 6.74 |
Take the positives, players like Maeda and many of these Celtic players, belong on this big stage and it proves that progression is being made in Europe.
Celtic will pick themselves up and go again next season because the signs are very positive.
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