Celtic winger Daizen Maeda to miss Champions League knock-out game as UEFA confirm ban

Daizen Maeda will miss the first leg of Celtic’s next Champions League knock-out tie after UEFA confirmed he will have to serve a two-match ban.

The Japanese winger was sent off late in the 1-0 win over Young Boys in Celtic’s last game in the competition, with Maeda dismissed for kicking out at Mohamed Ali Camara.

That red card automatically ensured the 27-year-old would be ruled out of Wednesday’s final League Phase game, against Aston Villa in Birmingham but he and Celtic faced a wait to learn if he would serve any further punishment.

UEFA have now confirmed that their Control, Ethics and Disciplinary body reviewed the case earlier this week and imposed a two-match suspension on the forward.

Listing the charge as “Assaulting another player”, the governing body said he was being banned for two UEFA club competition matches.

That means that in addition to missing out against Villa, Maeda won’t be available to manager Brendan Rodgers in the first leg of Celtic’s next tie in the knockout stages.

An own goal by Young Boys captain Loris Benito gave Celtic a 1-0 win in their last game and guaranteed progress to at least the play-off stage but a win over Villa, and other results going their way, could yet see the team bypass the play-offs and go straight to the last 16 of the competition.

Following his red card last week, Maeda apologised to fans for his sending-off.

In a post on social media, he wrote: “Thank you for your support. I’m really sorry for causing trouble to the team in such a wonderful atmosphere.

“I’ll continue to do my best for the team. Congratulations to all the Celtic fans and supporters.”