As Rangers and Celtic face off in the Scottish Premiership title race, Daizen Maeda is the latest to insist the trophy will be going to Parkhead.
Gers fans have gotten used to their Old Firm rivals talking the talk before walking the walk this season and the latest comments will be added to a selection of bookmarks this campaign.
Nothing is handed out in February – well, except from the League Cup Rangers have already won – and there is still plenty of football to be played.
But for Daizen Maeda, whilst he respects the challenge of Rangers, Celtic will apparently have too much for the Ibrox side in the business end of the campaign.
Daizen Maeda: “We will eventually be champions”
Speaking upon returning to Parkhead from the Asian Cup, the 26-year-old 16-cap forward was in confident mood.
Claiming that Celtic have the stronger squad of the two, these comments once again appear to underestimate the progress being made at Rangers.
“Now, there isn’t much difference between Rangers and us, so it’s difficult,” said Maeda. “But getting results through this tough period will give us more confidence and we will eventually be champions at the end.
“Do we have a stronger squad than Rangers? Yes, if you look at the table, we’re currently above them. I feel we are a stronger team.
“However, we can’t be comfortable thinking we’ll win without doing anything. It’s important for us to keep thinking we are the challenger, against Rangers or any other team.”
Celtic over-confidence welcome at Rangers
Following that controversial Old Firm defeat in December, Rangers fans had already bookmarked arrogant comments from Brendan Rodgers and Callum McGregor.
With the Parkhead manager and Celtic captain already backtracking – and Rangers closing a seven-point gap to within 0 – the nerves are jangling at Parkhead.
Rangers know that there is nothing won as things stand in a Premiership context and Philippe Clement is laser-focused on delivering game-by-game for the club.
Celtic should also have enough to dispatch most of the other clubs around them and it promises to be a tight-run thing until the end of the campaign.
But as Daizen Maeda becomes the latest Celtic star to test fate, we’ll just be keeping these comments close over the next three months or so.
As a quiet confidence builds at Rangers, something tells us the big talk coming out of Celtic could yet come back to bite them at the end of the season.
