Celtic v the Rangers – Daizen and Jamesy must start | OneFootball

Daizen Maeda and James Forrest must start….

James Forrest in action during the Premier Sports Cup Final victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Daizen Maeda and James Forrest can be considered as something of Hampden specialists, considering their collective history of success, and individual performances at the national stadium throughout the years for Celtic.

James as we know has won many honours at home of Scottish football (he is the club’s most decorated player after all) and he’s scored his fair share of goals in semi-finals, and finals, so he’s got the knack of both performing and winning in Mount Florida.

The same can be said of Daizen Maeda, who last season took home the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 route of Aberdeen at this stage of the same competition, then a month later he scored a superb goal in the final against today’s opponents, before going on to be the hero as he scored the winning goal in the penalty shoot out as we went home with the trophy, despite it only being a draw according to that Zombie Halloween hack.

Daizen Maeda with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay

The less said about his last appearance at the national stadium the better, but the sentiment still stands. Daizen like Jamesy has a history of performing at this stage, and more importantly, both looked bright and sharp in Wednesday night’s hammering of Falkirk.

Both players should be the first two names on the team sheet today as Martin O’Neill looks to pick up where he left off twenty years ago at Hampden with a brilliant victory.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy