Daizen Maeda had thawed out enough by Saturday night to thank the Celtic support for their backing at Hampden Park.
A year after his scoring debut against Hibs the Japanese internationalist opened the scoring at Hampden on Saturday then saw a ‘goal’ disallowed on the hour mark for the most marginal of offside calls.
Just over a month ago Maeda was playing in the air-conditioned stadiums of Qatar at the World Cup Finals- Saturday’s conditions were almost the polar opposite.
It was freezing?but your support kept us energized to win?
Happy to progress to the final! pic.twitter.com/FrlqhV3aJD— ?? ?? Daizen Maeda (@M_daizen_1020) January 15, 2023
While Maeda was able to run about in the wind and rain of Hampden more than 40,000 Celtic fans had to brave the elements as they cheered their team on to a place in next month’s final.
After a year at Celtic Maeda appears to have settled into the club and Scottish life, with his place now secured in the Japanese international side the move back to Europe has certainly paid off.
Was interesting to see that both he and Jota were with short sleeved tops whereas most of the others had a longsleeved top underneath their shirt.
Japanese weather can get very cold and wet, very similar to Scotlands. Spent two winters there and it were freezing so methinks our hero feels at home