Daizen Maeda’s goal that never was | OneFootball

Have you seen the offside lines that the VAR team draw at Celtic Park on Saturday to deny Daizen Maeda a goal and Celtic a fifth in that incredible first half on Saturday afternoon…

Daizen Maeda of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-0 lead. Celtic v Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, Glasgow, 12 April 2025. IMAGO Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

To be fair to Derek McInnes, he was very complimentary about the high standard of football from the Champions Elect and probably expected the worst after St Johnstone’s surprise win the week before meant that Brendan Rodgers would have demanded a response.

And that came in the first half when Celtic were magnificent and went up the tunnel at the break 4-1 ahead. But should it have been five? Here’s the Daizen Maeda goal that was not allowed to stand as the lines drawn by VAR meant that the on-field decision of the referee and his assistant was overruled by those operating the Poundland VAR set-up.

Here’s Daizen’s goal, so you can judge for yourselves.

And here are the lines…

VAR lines at Celtic Park rules out Daizen Maeda’s goal against Kilmarnock. Photo social media

Speaking on BBC Sportsound, former player and now pundit Michael Stewart had this to say about Celtic’s performance and VAR’s intervention to disallow Daizen’s second goal of the afternoon.

“It’s quite incredible. I was just saying to Stephen there during the game when Celtic are like that, the pace that they play with, there’s nobody that can live with them. And Brendan Rodgers will be absolutely over the moon because he has well and truly got a reaction there.

“The only solace for Kilmarnock is that it is four and not five because it was very, very tight (the offside call on Daizen’s goal). It was the right call, but it was very, very tight and could easily have been five. In fact, it could easily have been more.”

Daizen Maeda of Celtic celebrates scoring to give Celtic a 2-0 lead. Celtic v Kilmarnock, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, Glasgow, 12 April 2025. IMAGO Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

It’s actually hard to judge and surely the benefit should go to the attacking team or at least If the doubt is so great then VAR should simply back the decision by the match officials handling the game?  This is not a Celtic issue, it affects all clubs and it should be looked at surely?

Had the offside decision been important this would have been a much bigger talking point so it’s a decent time to highlight the point.