Better than Maeda: Celtic have unearthed a £124m-rated star in the making

February 19, 2025 Timo Uncategorized 0

Better than Maeda: Celtic have unearthed a £124m-rated star in the making

Celtic came ever so close to a historic night in Bavaria as they fell just short of taking Bayern Munich all the way to extra-time in the play-off phase of the Champions League. The Hoops came into the match knowing that it would either take a two-goal win or penalties to get the better of the German giants after they were beaten 2-1 at Parkhead in the first leg last week.

After squandering numerous opportunities in the first half, Nicolas Kuhn easily tapped past Manuel Neuer to give Brendan Rodgers’ team the lead, 1-0.

Alphonso Davies stole a march on Cameron Carter-Vickers to score in the 94th minute to send Bayern to the round of 16, just as the Scottish powerhouses and their fans believed they had done enough to earn another half hour of extra time.

After the USA international lost sight of his man in the area, the Canadian defender went goalside of Carter-Vickers to make sure his attempted clearing struck him and found the back of the net. Kasper Schmeichel made a fantastic save from the first header.

There were many good things to take away from the performance, especially Daizen Maeda’s performance in Munich, even if they were eliminated from the competition.

With Jota on the left and Kuhn on the right, the Japan international was chosen to start the game as the number nine, Adam Idah on the bench, and Kyogo Furuhashi sold to Rennes during the January transfer window.

Given that Maeda has played the majority of his Celtic career on the left wing, Rodgers made a daring move, but in the first half, it seemed to be a wise tactical decision.

The Japanese forward was the perfect center-forward for this game because of his quickness and never-ending drive to put pressure on the opposition. He did not give the Bayern center-backs or central midfield players a moment’s rest.

However, Maeda, who won four of his six duels that evening, missed two wonderful chances in the first half. He missed a fantastic cross from Arne Engels and then missed a chance to put Kuhn through on goal with a high and wide strike.

However, the right-footed speedster made up for those errors by pushing to regain possession of the ball in the middle of the field and then putting Kuhn through with the assistance of a botched tackle to make it

Despite Maeda’s strong performance, which included his contribution in the build-up to Celtic’s goal and his pressing work, the real star of the Hoops’ attack was the goal scorer.

Like Maeda, the former Bayern Munich academy star missed a great opportunity early in the game when he controlled Jota’s cross and tapped an effort beyond Neuer, which was quickly cleared before it could cross the line.

He later made up for that miss, though, by seeing Kim Min-jae’s error and staying calm to easily slide past the German legend between the sticks for the first goal.

Read  more news on https://sportupdates.co.uk/ 

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