Brendan Rodgers hails a ‘wonderful symbol’ of the Celtic team after the Bhoys battered Aberdeen

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Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the league to 16 points after destroying Aberdeen at Celtic Park.

Brendan Rodgers picked a strong Celtic starting XI to face Jimmy Thelin’s side to try and get back to winning ways after the Easter Road defeat to Hibs.

Celtic started sluggish but found their groove as soon as Daizen Maeda tucked home the opener in the 25th minute.

Jota added a second five minutes later to put some daylight between the two teams and Callum McGregor effectively ended the game as a contest after adding a third just before halftime at Celtic Park.

Hyunjun Yang came on as an impact sub and added Celtic’s fourth as Daizen Maeda cancelled out Aberdeen’s consolation goal with his second with almost the final kick of the ball.

Celtic sent the fans home happy and Rodgers was delighted after watching his Bhoys thrash Aberdeen 5-1 at Parkhead.

• READ MORE: Why Celtic held a minute applause before kick-off vs Aberdeen

Brendan Rodgers hails Daizen Maeda as Celtic’s ‘symbol’ vs Aberdeen

Rodgers was delighted with the win and hailed Daizen Maeda as such an important part of Celtic’s team.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Rodgers said, “Well, for me, he’s a really important player for us, but he’s also the symbol of the team and how we want to work his press.

“And whether he plays central or wide, I’ve always said he can score goals from the central area. He’s not your traditional number nine.

“He’s a moving nine who anticipates things in the box when they drop, and he’s there for crosses and everything else.

“But he’s just a wonderful symbol for our team, the work ethic, the mentality and the humility within it. And like I said, wherever he plays wide or central, he will score goals for us. So he’s been outstanding.

“And there’s still 10 games to go and hopefully some more games in the cup, and hopefully he can score a few more.”

Daizen Maeda’s incredible Celtic scoring record

Maeda is in a rich vein of goalscoring form for Celtic this season as he scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season.

So here is the Japanese international’s full record of the season so far:

With Celtic’s next fixture against St Mirren on Saturday, Rodgers can take one more step towards retaining the title with another win in Paisley.