Celtic’s win over Motherwell ended up a convincing victory after the Bhoys clawed back a 1-0 deficit to win 3-1.
Motherwell were reduced to 10 men after Emmanuel Longelo fouled Daizen Maeda and a penalty was awarded to put Celtic 2-1 up.
However, online chat suggests that Maeda also should have seen red after an altercation where the Celtic forward appeared to elbow a Motherwell player.
So we decided to get former FIFA referee Mark Clattenburg’s view on the incident and he said the Celtic star was ‘fortunate’ not to be booked.
Massive three points. Your instant thoughts…
Who impressed you for Celtic against Motherwell?
Daizen Maeda ‘very fortunate’ despite Clattenburg shutting down Celtic red card talk
Maeda has annoyed all the right people during his five-year stay at Celtic and it seems those people are desperate to see him get punished at every turn. Except those who are impartial. Like Clattenburg.
Clattenburg told 67 Hail Hail, “Daizen Maeda is very fortunate not to receive a yellow card for a forceful push in the back of his opponent.
“I can understand why the VAR does not recommend a review as there has to be malice and excessive force and endangering the safety of his opponent. The challenge lacks this.
The Motherwell player clearly barges Maeda in the back and hurts himself in the process as he wraps his legs around the Celtic player while writhing on the ground.
To suggest anything malicious went on is just plain silly.
Daizen Maeda needs his goalscoring touch to return at Celtic
While no one can fault Maeda’s effort, the Celtic forward’s goalscoring touch has deserted him this season.
With just eight goals in 44 fixtures, with seven of those coming in the league, Maeda needs to put his shooting boots on to make Celtic’s title-defence go smoothly.
Hearts and Rangers are still hanging in there as Celtic start to find their form. Adding goals from Maeda would be the icing on the cake and would make the defence of the Scottish Premiership title almost a given.
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