Daizen Maeda scored twice in a Man of the Match performance against Dundee last night as Scotland’s Most Successful Club accelerated towards #title55.

Starting his fourth year as a Celtic player the legend is growing by the game, alongside the high energy style of play the former Yokohama F Marinos man is turning into something of a goal machine coming off the flanks.

Two brilliantly different goals in the space of five minutes last night killed off Dundee and took his tally for the season to 18.

On Sunday against Motherwell Brendan Rodgers compared his first minute header with Henrik Larsson, as the goals flew in last night social media was doing its thing as Maeda was imposed onto classic Larsson images.

Normally that sort of thing is out of bounds, comparissons to the King of Kings aren’t the done thing but Maeda is unconventional, anything is possible with the forward who completes the tasks that others could think about.

Maeda is having a great season #Celtic pic.twitter.com/jcd067K7vb
— David Boyle (@DavidBo70004005) February 5, 2025

Maeda’s second goal and our 4th goal in all it’s glory 😮‍💨🍀 pic.twitter.com/rsu0hHfcHf
— AM 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🍀 (@annemarie6377) February 5, 2025

Q) Daizen, how impressed were you with the team performance tonight?
A) I’m happy to score the goal, and the win. I do my best next game, yep
Q) And how does it feel to have this man back in the team and creating goals for you?
A) Yeah, I’m happy, yeah.

That five minute spell just before the hour summed up this Celtic side with Jota and Maeda providing the X-factor that opposition managers and coaches can’t prepare for.

Leading 2-0 in the 55^th minute Jota cut in from the left, he knew what was coming next, so too did Maeda as a perfectly weighted cross was delivered for the Japanese forward to come motoring in at the back post with barely any movement needed to nod the ball behind Trevor Carson.

A few minutes later with the ball at Celtic’s left corner flag the danger wasn’t so obvious. Jota got a return pass from Reo Hatate, slipped the ball to Callum McGregor and suddenly danger signs were flashing for the visitors.

Arne Engels was the middle man, slinging the ball forward with Maeda eating up space before a brilliant chipped shot sailed over Carson into the final corner of the net.

The scorer and his team-mates revelled in that goal as fans tried to replay it in their head over where it had actually started.

Oh Daizen Maeda, you filthy man 👌🔥
19 goals for Celtic across all competitions this season.
pic.twitter.com/P5K2PuM1Xd
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) February 5, 2025

Unfortunately not everything in the garden is rosy, Maeda is suspended for next week’s match against Bayern Munich, a ridiculously harsh punishment since he was the original victim of aggression from a YB Bern defender.

A VAR check produced a red card, forcing Maeda out of the matches away to Aston Villa and at home to Bayern Munich.

That does spell bad news for Raith Rovers on Saturday with the 18-goal winger certain to start and be causing more mayhem for overrun defenders.

Maeda will need to wait until February 18 in the Allianz Arena to get a run at the fabled German side and the chance to add to his three Champions League goals.

Gimme gimme Daizen Maeda pic.twitter.com/275eVOk4rq
— Cathal (@Cathal1798) February 5, 2025

Most goal contributions in the Celtic squad this season
Nicholas Kuhn – 17G 12A
Daizen Maeda – 18G 8A
Arne Engels – 9G 10A
The linchpins 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1UuP5gSFnS
— C (@_CM_67_) February 6, 2025

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SHOCKEROONI! Celtic blow R***gers out the water!

Celtic are apparently blowing ‘Rangers’ out the water in terms of European prize money, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.

In other news water is wet, the earth is round and liquidation is final.

The constant need to promote and compare the two Glasgow sides is more humorous than annoying with digital outlets treading down the same dismal path as legacy outfits.

Shoe-horning the club beginning with R into headlines about Celtic seems to be the backbone of many outlets, providing a comfort blanket to Ibrox fans while giving Celtic supporters another angle to contrast the poverty of events at Ibrox with that of their own club.

Anyone with the most basic knowledge of football will know that the prize money in the Champions League dwarves that on offer in the Europa League. It isn’t quite like the disparity between the EPL and SPFL but the highest payout from the Europa League is still way short of the prize money given to YB Bern for finishing 36^th in the Champions League.

One of the most lucrative payments available in the Europa League is from losing out in the Champions League Play Off, the losers pick up 5m euros and drop into the Europa League which is more than the 4.2m euros reward for reaching the semi-finals.

Every penny, pound and euro is a prisoner at Ibrox as they battle to keep losses for this season closer to £20m than £30m.

But really, there is no need for Football Insider to state the bleeding obvious to their readers:

Celtic are set to blow Rangers out of the water in terms of European prize money this season after qualifying for the Champions League knockout round play-offs.

That is the view of finance expert Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider the Scottish champions have already banked more than £40million from the elite club competition this season.

Celtic booked their place in the play-off round after earning 12 points from their eight matches in the revamped league phase of the Champions League.

Brendan Rodgers’s side will now face Bayern Munich for a place in the last 16, with the first leg taking place at Celtic Park on 12 February.

Rangers, meanwhile, made it through to the last 16 of the Europa League after finishing eighth in the table.

Celtic to have ‘massive’ advantage over Rangers

Borson revealed Celtic will earn significantly more than their Old Firm rivals from their European exploits this season.

Every team in the Champions League will be earning significantly more than the Ibrox Tribute Act who pick up more money from home matches with 50,000 attendances than they get directly from UEFA.

Winning a match in the Champions League comes with a 2.1m euros payout, in comparison a win in the Europa League provides a payout of 450,000 euros. Basically the Champions League pays out five times as much as the secondary competition.

Drooling over every pay out from the Europa League isn’t going to transform the desperate finances at Ibrox where Jose Cifuentes, Ben Davies, Kieran Dowell and Rabbi Matondo are being over £300,000 a month to play football for other clubs.

Keeping an eye on UEFA’s Financial Sustainability Rules would be worthwhile as new CEO Paddy Stewart battles against a wage bill that is sinking Phil Clement’s exciting young side.

CLICK HERE for breakdown on UEFA payments.

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