Daizen Maeda sets Celtic Champions League targets as he reveals he swerved showpiece final for baseball

Daizen Maeda admits he wasn’t watching Real Madrid and Liverpool slugging it out when he was back in his homeland as he’s more interested in Major League than Champions League.

The Japanese star is looking forward to the big guns of Europe pitching up at Parkhead later this season but it doesn’t mean he takes too much interest at other times. Maeda prefers to use his football downtime to tune in to his other big sporting love – and it’s baseball he uses to touch base.

The frontman admits he was a pretty nifty player himself back in the day – but he was a defender rather than an attacker. Goodness knows what that means but you’d suspect a player who seems to have relentless energy would be handy are making the odd home run.

It’s an interesting insight in to the man himself though after blazing a trail in his first six months in Scotland. Maeda became a firm fans favourite from the off with his incredible workmate and willingness to graft for his teammates.

The Japan cap played for 18 months on the spin and punters are hoping to see even better from him this term with the benefit of a break. But don’t bank on Maeda swatting up on potential Euro rivals during his time off.

When asked if he watched the Champions League when he lived at home, the answer was a bit of a curve ball. Maeda said: “Nothing at all. Because I don’t watch football on TV. I only watch baseball on TV.

“Why no football? Because I don’t want to think about football on my days off. I like to switch off and shut everything down. I think it is very important to have a different outlet.

“As I’m from Osaka, Hanshin Tigers is my favourite team. I also played baseball when I was younger but I enjoyed it more playing football so that is why I followed this