Celtic winger Daizen Maeda has urged his teammates to 'make history' in their UEFA Champions League clash with Young Boys.
Brendan Rodgers' men welcome the Swiss side to Glasgow's east end on Wednesday evening, knowing a win would all but seal their place in the knockout stages of European football's premier club competition for the first time in over a decade.
Maeda, though, insists he and his teammates will have to be much more clinical in front of goal midweek than they were in Saturday's 2-1 victory over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup: "Well, if we play against Young Boys the way we did on Saturday, then it will be very difficult for us," he said.
Read more:
-
Celtic beaten by Rangers in fiery Sky Sports Cup semi-final clash
-
Moment furious Schmeichel confronts ref after Celtic vs Kilmarnock
"If we have these opportunities, we need to convert them to goals. The next game is the most important for us, of course. We need to recover well from the weekend and prepare for this next one.
"We need to try to get a good result – and to make history. We know what is necessary, and we will be going for the win.”
While the Scottish Premiership champions are yet to lose at home in Europe this season, Maeda reckons their form counts for nothing if they take advantage of Wednesday's mammoth opportunity.
He said: "There have been some good performances here so far. But I think we’ll be able to say after this game whether we feel our home form in the competition has been good or bad.
"Right now, we just have to focus on this one. You can say Young Boys cannot qualify, but that means they have nothing to lose.
"That is dangerous. They can come here and give 100 percent. We cannot allow ourselves to be comfortable. We have to perform like we are the challengers rather than think about how they will be treating us."
Bottom of the league phase table and currently ninth in the Swiss top flight after a goalless draw with relegation-threatened Winterthur on Saturday, Young Boys come into the game struggling.
Celtic have started to purr in Europe this campaign, and if they can harness Maeda's advice and put away their chances on Wednesday, history awaits.