Happy New Year- Daizen Maeda first foots for the third year running

As soon as the bells toll for New Year you can set your watch on Daizen Maeda scoring for Celtic.

For the third year running the former Yokohama F Marinos man has scored Celtic’s first goal of the year wasting little time to find the net

Back in 2022 after a brief lockdown the fans piled in to Celtic Park to see their new striker in action against Hibs- after just four minutes the net was bulging as 60,000 welcomed another scorer from the J-League.

? ?? ???

2022 V Hibs
2023 V Rangers
2024 V St Mirren

For the THIRD year running Daizen Maeda nets the Celts first goal of the calendar year ? pic.twitter.com/pOwOxFyBV0

— 4 Tims and a Podcast (@PodTims) January 2, 2024

Last year Celtic went first footing at Ibrox, this time it took Maeda a full five minutes to open the scoring, accepting a pass from Alfredo Morelos then slicing through the defence to pop the ball past Allan McGregor.

Yesterday, after a few sub-standard performances yer man from Yokohama took 54 seconds to get in behind the St Mirren defence before shooting past Zak Hemmings to give Celtic the perfect start- again.

Over the last three years Maeda has taken a combined total of 10 minutes to open Celtic’s scoring account for the new year.