How Celtic's Maeda tormented Rangers' Tavernier in derby win

Goals from Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor sealed a convincing win that sends Celtic into the first international break of the season with four wins from their opening four Scottish Premiership fixtures. 

McGregor, who scored for the third league game running, was again hugely influential and picked up the man of the match award. There were also impressive individual displays from the likes of Paulo Bernardo and Alistair Johnston while Kyogo’s first goal of the season made it eight goals in his last ten derby matches.

Maeda’s opener also continued his outstanding recent form in the fixture as he again tormented Rangers captain James Tavernier. A constant threat in behind and typically relentless out-of-possession, the Japanese international played a pivotal role as Celtic once more took the bragging rights on derby day. 

Here, we break down the key moments and highlight the standout numbers from Maeda’s electrifying display at Celtic Park… 

Goal (16 mins)

Celtic had a shaky start to proceedings on Sunday with Rangers’ high press causing a few issues in playing out in the opening ten minutes or so. Coupled with being a bit too passive off-the-ball themselves in those initial exchanges, Celtic did click into gear just after the ten-minute mark when they broke Rangers press for the first time which led to Kyogo’s disallowed goal. 

It only took Brendan Rodgers’ side five minutes after that to break the deadlock for certain though with Maeda on hand to slot home. After some slick play down the right, Maeda snuck in on Tavernier’s blind side to finish past Jack Butland from Alistair Johnston’s cross.

Attacking the back post, something Celtic wingers have had plenty of joy in against their rivals in these fixtures over the last few years, Maeda was far quicker to the ball than the Rangers captain who, even with a five-yard advantage on his man when the cross from Johnston left the Canadian’s boot, failed to check his shoulder at any point for his man.

Recovery (17 mins)

As Celtic Park still celebrated his opener, the winger was back doing the other side of the game to brilliant effect just seconds later. 

Sprinting back into the middle of the pitch following Celtic’s first attack after the goal broke down, Maeda doubled up on Rangers midfielder Mohammed Diomande with McGregor to win the loose ball. 

With the ball then falling to the visitor’s winger Vaclav Cerny, Maeda continued his recovery run to snap in and win the ball back from the Czech winger. Laying the ball back to Kasper Schmeichel to secure Celtic possession, his desire to win the ball extinguished any chance Rangers had of hitting back quickly with a potentially dangerous transition situation. 

Shot (36 mins)

Celtic continued to dominate in the first half, particularly down the right where Johnston, Bernardo and Nicolas Kuhn brutally exploited Rangers’ left side who simply couldn’t handle Celtic’s slick passing and rotations. This again presented an opportunity for Maeda at the back post on 36 minutes.

This time Tavernier did scan to see where Maeda was as the pullback from Johnston came in. However, even being more aware of where Maeda was this time, Tavernier was still caught by the movement of Maeda who got in on his inside to get a shot away which the Rangers skipper this time managed to get a block on. 

Run in behind (45 mins)

Kyogo of course did double Celtic’s lead soon after and Bernardo had the chance to make it three right on half-time, thanks again to the threat in behind of Maeda.

With Rangers again attempting to press Celtic high in the left-back area, Maeda made a dart in behind the visitors’ high-line that was spotted by Greg Taylor. 

The sharpness of Maeda’s turn was simply too much for Tavernier to handle and he was able to sprint into acres of space in behind the Rangers back line and onto Taylor’s well-weighted ball down the side.

On this occasion, Maeda opted to hold the ball up before support arrived from the impressive Bernardo who, thanks to the Rangers midfield being completely taken out by the ball over the top, was in acres of space himself.

From there, Bernardo did well to create a shooting opportunity inside the box which he unfortunately could not add the final touch to, and his eventual strike was comfortably saved by Butland. 

Pressure (92 mins)

One of Maeda’s final actions of the match summed up his, and Tavernier’s afternoon. 

As Rangers attempted to reduce the deficit in the final minutes, the ball was played out to Tavernier. Even at this late stage though, Maeda was not for giving his man a moment’s peace.

Again, he was all over the Rangers’ full-back, forcing Tavernier to turn back inside. He was (somewhat harshly) then deemed to have fouled his man in the duel. By this stage, Tavernier seemed completely demoralised by another afternoon dealing with Maeda and his subsequent quick free kick waywardly trickled out of play for a Celtic goal kick. 

StatsBomb data

Data from StatsBomb further highlights Maeda’s significant contribution to Celtic’s first Glasgow Derby win of the season. 

The former Yokohama F Marinos forward led the way for Celtic in terms of shots with four, the joint most in the game with Rangers sub Ross McCausland. Maeda got to higher quality chances though with his four shots worth a game-high individual xG of 0.99 (Celtic’s cumulative xG on the day was 2.18) and he subsequently had the most touches in the opposition box of any player in green and white with nine. 

Maeda also provided two key passes worth a total xG value of 0.33. This was one behind the joint most in the Celtic team, Johnston and Kuhn with three each.  

To absolutely no surprise, Maeda led the way when it came to pressing matters for Celtic. His 24 was the most for the home side with his four counterpressures being joint second most with Reo Hatate (four), two behind the most in the Celtic team from Kuhn (six). 

As the heatmap shows most of these came just either side of the halfway line, in those positions where Tavernier operates for Rangers. To give Tavernier some credit, he did still manage two key passes worth an xG of 0.27 which was the most in the Rangers team but he was not as influential going forward as he has been before in this fixture.

Defensively, Maeda also made five tackles, joint second with Kuhn and Taylor and one behind Johnston who made the most for Celtic. 

Conclusion

With those eight goals in his last ten derby matches, there is no doubt Kyogo has become Rangers’ tormentor-in-chief in recent times. 

However, Maeda’s influence on this fixture, and Tavernier in particular, continues to grow with each passing one. Sunday was arguably his best derby performance to date. With his superhuman ability to press at an incredible intensity for 90-plus minutes, he almost seemed to give Celtic an extra man on the pitch and once again it blunted Rangers’ biggest creative force in Tavernier for most of the game.

He also again exploited the Rangers captain by offering a constant threat in behind with well-timed runs. There was of course the odd wayward cross that has also been a trademark but in general, his work in possession was as tidy as it has been throughout his time at Celtic. 

Ultimately, Maeda’s strengths far outweigh his weaknesses and he seems almost tailor-made for this fixture. Don’t bet against Celtic’s blond bomb lighting up another derby or two before the season is out.