IF any member of the Celtic team is entitled to enjoy a little rest and recuperation between matches it is Daizen Maeda.
The Japanese internationalist, whose stunning second half goal against Club Brugge at Parkhead on Wednesday night ultimately earned the Glasgow club what could prove to be a vital Champions League point, leaves nothing out on the park when he plays.
The 27-year-old is, as opposition sides will readily testify, a bundle of energy who bombs forward and attacks at pace whenever he has the opportunity to do so and tracks back and defends when required.
Maeda is a model professional who appreciates the importance of taking down time to recover from his exertions - but the way he chooses to relax is a little different from most athletes.
As he looked ahead to the Scottish champions’ punishing run of fixtures in December – they will play six times this month, starting with a William Hill Premiership meeting with Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night – the winger revealed that he enjoys nothing more than chasing after his daughter Soyo and son Tensei at the local soft play area.
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“Regardless of the opposition or the competition, we just have to win the next game and to keep winning,” he said. “We can think of who comes after once we win this next one.
“No club which plays this many games can possibly go with the same starting XI every time, so it’s up to whoever is picked to prove themselves because, as I say, we always need to win.
“Strong teams have players who can step up and show themselves. We are that kind of team and I am sure we have guys who can do this over the tough period ahead.”
“Me? I recover by playing with the kids. After a lot of games I take them to soft play centres and that refreshes me. Maybe I have a different way of relaxing from the others, but that works for me.”
It clearly does. The man who joined Celtic from Yokohama F Marinos in his homeland for a £1.5m transfer fee back in 2022 has long been a firm favourite with supporters. But he has been in inspired form in recent months and endeared himself further to the fans with his spectacular and important equaliser in midweek.
However, the 22-times capped wide man felt than neither he nor his team mates performed as well as they could have in the league phase encounter with the Belgian visitors.
He is determined to do better when they play their next European match against Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia on Tuesday week and help secure a result which increases their chances of progressing to the knockout round play-offs.
“Every goal is important to me,” he said. “But it was such a big game that it felt really good. As a team in the first half we didn’t perform well and the fans got frustrated, so it was a difficult time, but then we got the goal and the point and we all felt better.
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“Champions League games are the most difficult and we always learn lessons from them. We will learn from this game, because it’s all about experience.
"One point in any Champions League game is a good point. We just have to focus on the next one now and take on board what happened. We always want to say that each game has been a good learning experience for us.”
Maeda is sure that Celtic centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers, who passed the ball into his own net in the first half of the Brugge game to gift the away side the lead, will lead by example when the game against Zagreb gets underway in the Maksimir Stadium later this month.
He was impressed at how all of Brendan Rodgers’ players rallied around the defender and then fought back to draw 1-1 and remain in the top 24 of the Champions League table after five matches.
“In the time I have been here, we have never had a huddle as we did after the goal,” he said. “But we are disciplined and it showed how much we wanted to win the game. It was a good gesture in a difficult moment.
“What happened to him [Carter-Vickers] was not only his fault, it was a team thing and we will all take part of the responsibility. He has been a leader for this team and he will keep being so.”
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