Not many Celtic players are going to get likened to Lionel Messi, but Daizen Maeda will be surprised to hear that has just happened with him.
The 26-year-old, who has had a stop-start season because of injuries, was recently at the Asian Cup where he was representing Japan.
Chris Sutton noted how Daizen Maeda, who is a huge player for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers, was ‘away for a while’.
But upon his return, and with the team not exactly firing on all cylinders, ‘it was like Messi returning’, the Bhoys legend added, as he told Sky Sports Football (07/02/24).
The fact that Brendan Rodgers threw Daizen Maeda straight back into the XI for the 2-1 win over Hibernian tells you everything you need to know about how he feels about him.
It probably doesn’t shed a good light on those who were previously starting because the entire forward line was changed for the trip to Easter Road.
In the end, Daizen Maeda got 72 minutes under his belt before being replaced by Luis Palma, and a comparison with Lionel Messi.
Daizen Maeda and Lionel Messi
“Away for a while (was Diazen Maeda),” said Sutton. “And coming back, it was like Messi returning, isn’t it?!”
Big win for Celtic
Look, just like against Ross County a few weeks back, this win wasn’t pretty and the performance will still worry the fans.
But the positives need to be looked at here and how Adam Idah scored a deserved brace to get his Celtic career off the mark.
That’s one of the big pluses of the evening, plus the fact that players like Maeda are back and they can now, hopefully, remain injury-free for the rest of the campaign.
From the backline to the forward players, constant injuries aren’t helping anyone’s cause because it’s just resulting in the team chopping and changing by the week.
Once that is settled down, then the fans will start to see more consistent performances.
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