Celtic were in imperious form on Wednesday night as they dismantled Dundee in the Premiership.
The Hoops tore Dundee to shreds as the quality and depth of their squad shone through in the 6-0 victory that restored their 13-point gap at the summit of the league.
Celtic fans were wowed by Jota’s return to Celtic Park as he dazzled on his first appearance there since May 2023 with silky skills, bundles of energy and an assist.
But Daizen Maeda made sure he wasn’t outshone by the Portuguese star as he himself put in a sublime performance that saw him net a brace.
The 27-year-old was deployed on the right wing and scored one of the goals of the season in the 59th minute to put Celtic 3-0 up on the night.
It was the perfect team goal with the move starting with Jota in the left-back position before the ball was dinked into the net a matter of seconds later.
Daizen Maeda’s dinked finish vs Dundee took Bartley aback
Speaking on The Warm-Up, pundit Marvin Bartley was running out of superlatives to describe the goal and actually admitted that he wasn’t expecting Maeda to finish like he did.
Maeda does have a tendency to overhit his crosses or deliver some wild efforts on goal – but this time, he got it spot on and proved Bartley wrong.
Bartley said: “The goal that Maeda scored was unbelievable. The playing out from the back when Jota’s got it in the left-back position and they play through the lines.
“The finish at the end of it is unbelievable. I didn’t think he had that in him, if I’m honest. I thought he was going to blast it. Honestly, I’ve never seen that from him!
“It’s beautiful though, the way he dinks it is unbelievable. Great, great finish.
Daizen Maeda’s Celtic stats for the season
Bartley’s fellow pundit Kevin Thomson, even as an ex-Rangers midfielder, couldn’t help but praise Maeda’s finish, while also labelling the Japanese hero as the hardest working player in the Premiership.
Thomson noted: “Aye, you would think he wouldn’t have as much care or smoothness as Kyogo. But he’s the hardest working player in the league so he earns that bit of luck I suppose.
“It was a brilliant finish. As Marv says, they play out from the back and I think it pops out to Callum McGregor then out the other side to Alistair Johnston then down the side. It’s a bit of quality isn’t it?
Maeda now has 17 goals for the season, taking him just one behind Nicolas Kuhn on 18 after the German also added a cracking strike on Wednesday evening.
Kuhn has been hailed as Celtic’s player of the season so far, but Maeda is doing his all to be in with a serious shout come awards season at the end of the campaign.
