Celtic winger Daizen Maeda has admitted he ‘mishit’ the winning spot-kick in his side’s penalty shootout victory over Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup final yesterday afternoon.
It was a rollercoaster day at Hampden, which came to a crashing crescendo when the 27-year-old finally ended a topsy-turvy affair which could easily have gone either way.
Nedim Bajrami opened the scoring late in the first half before Greg Taylor and Maeda duly responded to put the Hoops ahead by the hour mark. Mohamed Diomande drew the Gers level, and although Nicolas Kuhn looked to have won it late on, Danilo’s header took the game to extra time.
The sides still couldn’t be separated after 120 minutes, so penalties ensued.
Maeda eventually stepped up to score the winning spot-kick and, post-match, admitted that because he was so tired, he didn’t strike the ball as he planned: “I wasn’t nervous at all,” said the wide-man (Glasgow Times).
“But because I was tired, and it was also a miskick, so it was a great goal. Because of [the mishit] the ball went the opposite side of the goalkeeper. So, it was a very good moment.”
Maeda was the toast of the green and white half of Glasgow last night after yet another big-game performance. He has contributed to 14 Celtic goals this season, six of which have either been against Rangers or in the UEFA Champions League.
Continually reliable when it matters, Maeda once more turned up for his side yesterday and helped the Celts take home the first piece of silverware of the season.
