Daizen Maeda equals long-standing Celtic Champions League record in narrow Bayern Munich defeat

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Daizen Maeda is talk of the town right now at Celtic and beyond.

The Japanese attacker hit the back of the net against Bayern Munich in the Hoops’ narrow 2-1 defeat at Parkhead last night.

It was his move through the middle to replace Adam Idah which had Bayern “frightened” and when he found the net with a header it ensured the Champions League tie remained alive ahead of the second-leg in Germany next week.

Maeda‘s season as a whole has been fantastic with his goals and assists tally dwarfing last term’s by a considerable margin.

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Daizen Maeda hit a Celtic scoring record in the Champions League

But he has now equaled a 47-year old record with his goal against Bayern.

The 27-year-old tucked away Yang’s squared ball and became the first Celtic player to net four times in a Champions League campaign since Joe Craig did the same in 1977/78.

The Scot played for the Hoops between ’76 and ’78 and his European record has stood the test of time.

He netted twice against Jeunesse Esch in Glasgow before scoring a third time against the Luxembourg outfit in the following fixture.

Then came a goal against Wacker of Austria in the last-16 of the competition at that time before Celts were knocked out.

Maeda’s Celtic stats this season have dwarfed previous years

Maeda’s goals have come against Slovan Bratislava on matchday one, Club Brugge, Borussia Dortmund and then Bayern.

Maeda’s performance against the Bundesliga giants was hailed by numerous pundits following the first-leg last night.

Stiliyan Petrov credited the player as being the man to change the tide in front of what was a packed out crowd as his pace, power and running efforts as the game wore on.

James McFadden also explained how Bayern “lost all control” the minute Maeda was moved up top as he added to his stats having already impressed this year.