Even the most hardened Celtic fan will find it difficult to point to anything positive from last night’s Champions League result against Borussia Dortmund.
The 7-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund has left the vast majority of the Celtic support shell-shocked as they try and piece together why Brendan Rodgers’ men performed so badly.
From front to back, Celtic was poor and even after scoring a quick equaliser after Dortmund went 1-0 up in the first seven minutes, Rodgers’ side never really looked like getting going as the Bundelsiga side asserted their authority on the Scottish champions.
However, Neil Lennon reckons that there was one player who got pass marks in Celtic’s humbling in Dortmund as the former Hoops boss said he looks like ‘a real asset’ in the Champions League.
Daizen Maeda is Celtic’s shining light in Germany
Daizen Maeda was once again full of energy even though Celtic toiled in Germany and Lennon reckons he is now showing his true worth against the best players in Europe.
Lennon told TNT Sports, “Alright, if you can’t play through the teams, then you get down the sides, and you get Maeda away and to be fair to Maeda, he kept going all night.
“He was a threat all night down that left-hand side and he is a real asset at this level. But there wasn’t enough from Kyogo.
“To be fair, he was starved of the ball. They didn’t play anywhere near quick passes behind the Dortmund defence.
They just even to get a corner and take the sting out of the game for a little bit and get a breather and get reset.
“After 3-1 that should have been a time to go, ‘Okay, we hold what we have until half time and then we’ll take it from there’ but they never did.
“They just kept playing the same way, and kept getting punished for it.”
Maeda’s Celtic performance vs Borussia Dortmund
Despite doing a lot of chasing and harrying, Maeda performed admirably in the 7-1 defeat in the Westenfallonstadion.
Rated 6.9 by Fotmob, on top of his goal, the Japanese winger had a further two shots on goal, created two chances and had five touches inside Dortmund’s box as he tried to break them down.
Defensively, Maeda won two out of his seven duels, made one clearance, three defensive actions and two interceptions as he tried to keep Nuri Sahin’s side at bay.
Unfortunately the Japan international made a mistake which led to a Dortmund goal but, overall, he was one of Celtic’s best performers in a night many fans want to forget.
The best thing Brendan Rodgers can do right now is to draw a line under this defeat and try to pick his team up for the tricky trip to Dingwall where a struggling Ross County await on Sunday afternoon.
