David Gray labels Daizen Maeda “incredible” ahead of today’s Scottish Premiership encounter with Celtic at Easter Road…
Brendan Rodgers’ side return to domestic action this lunchtime after Tuesday night’s heroic but heartbreaking Champions League knockout playoff 1-1 draw versus Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. Celtic were 20 seconds away from taking the Bundesliga league leaders to extra time following Nicholas Kuhn’s opener on the hour mark for the Scottish champions.
Now, the Hibs boss has identified Daizen Maeda as Celtic’s main man leading up to today’s Premiership clash between the two sides. Gray told Edinburgh Evening News: “I say he’s one of the players that, even watching him against Bayern, he played through the middle, he’s incredible, his energy with and without the ball.”
“It’s incredible when you think about it. Regardless of what it says on the clock, you wouldn’t really know what minute the game is by watching him; it could be the first 30 seconds or well into injury time.”
“You just see how he acts, and he doesn’t seem to tire. That’s credit to him for his fitness but also his ability.”
Gray added: “Maeda’s just one of four or five wingers that they could play that are very, very good, so they’ve got threat whoever [Brendan Rodgers] plays. You’ve got Jota, you’ve got Maeda who could play there, you’ve got Yang, Kuhn, all the different wingers there that can cause you problems, and all cause you different problems at different times.”
“So there are different challenges; Celtic always cause you different challenges. But that’s one of the reasons why this is a real good game for the players to look forward to.”
Celtic will be aiming to end Hibs’ impressive 10 match unbeaten run and extend their significant gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to 16 points prior to theRangers meeting with St Mirren at Ibrox later today.
Conor Spence
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