Brendan Rodgers must leave ‘incredible’ 25-year-old player on the bench against Hearts today

Now that international duty has ended, “real” football is resumed. Watching the Celtic players represent their country over the previous two weeks has been fantastic, but nothing compares to the resumption of home football.

And for Celtic, the challenge of playing domestically again couldn’t be greater than if Brendan Rodgers was leading his club to Ibrox.

Given how difficult it has historically been for Celtic to defeat Hearts at Tynecastle and get three points, Brendan Rodgers ought to consider starting a full-strength squad, right?

In part, sure. Nonetheless, I think the Celtics manager needs to sit a guy who has been crucial to the team this year.

Why Daizen Maeda must be dropped to the Celtic bench

 

Please bear with me as I nearly hear the shouts of dissatisfaction at this suggestion. Before Daizen Maeda left for Japan’s international duty, he had a minor injury. However, that injury was sufficient to force him to withdraw from the national team.

Although Brendan Rodgers claimed that the “incredible” winger was fit for today’s game, Maeda will be more important against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League than he will be against Hearts.

A few weeks ago, after seeing Alvaro Morata and Saul Niguez of Real Madrid demolish Real Madrid in La Liga, I wrote on TBR Celtic that Celtic should be cautious of the £92 million combination of Madrid.

 

Since then, Niguez has also scored in La Liga and led Atletico Madrid’s midfield, helping them sit second in the standings, only three points behind Real Madrid. Morata has also scored twice for Spain over the international break and in the Champions League.

On Wednesday night, Maeda’s relentless running and tracking back will be crucial if Celtic are to secure the victory they so desperately need to maintain their prospects of qualifying for Europe.

Today, Luis Palma need to get underway before Maeda. The Honduran scored two goals for Celtic before the international break, which has given him a lot of confidence.

He has also been in excellent form for his country by not only creating an assist in the 4-0 win against Cuba but also after being chosen in the CONCACAF team of the week after his displays for the Hondurans.