John Hartson says one Rangers player was ‘absolutely destroyed’ in Celtic draw

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There were many standout performers for Celtic in the draw with Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

Cameron Carter-Vickers was a rock in the defence, Brendan Rodgers praised his ‘excellent‘ midfield and 67 Hail Hail delivered the stats on Matt O’Riley’s superb performance at Ibrox.

Celtic were so close to picking up three crucial points after a first-half Ibrox blitz that saw Rodgers’ team storm to a 2-0 lead.

And John Hartson has named one player who was partially responsible for that.

Hartson praises ‘excellent’ Celtic

The former Celtic hero pinpointed Daizen Maeda’s performance as a key component as to why Celtic played the way they did in that first 45 minutes at Ibrox.

In fact, Hartson went one step further and said the Celtic winger ‘absolutely destroyed’ Rangers captain, James Tavernier.

Hartson said [The Go Radio Football Show], “For Celtic to go there and start that the way they did. They got a little bit of luck with the first goal.

“Tavernier trying to clear and hit Maeda’s foot. But you need a little bit of luck.

“Then I thought Celtic were excellent. I thought Maeda absolutely destroyed Tavernier in that first half.

“And if Tavernier wasn’t Tavernier he would have been taken off because Maeda absolutely ripped him to shreds.”

And it’s not a surprise. Tavernier’s positioning has been found wanting on more than one occasion by Maeda over the past few seasons.

The Celtic winger has mugged the Rangers defender on two other occasions with the most memorable being in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox last season when he stole the ball away from Tavernier to open the scoring.

Maeda has been a thorn in Tavernier’s side ever since he joined Celtic in January 2022 and with one more derby left this season, you wouldn’t bet against him doing this again.