Tomorrow at 3.30pm.
@Bisto, what do you think? You’re always wary of the huns.
Celtic are looking to regain this trophy from Rangers. Rodgers has never lost at Hampden & Callum McGregor has never lost a final. Plus there’s Rodgers’ outrageously good record against them & Celtic comfortably clear in the league. So you’d have to be pretty confident but it’s a derby cup final & recent Celtic-Rangers games at Hampden have been very tight affairs, including Idah’s last minute winner in the Scottish Cup Final last May.
If this game was a month ago it would have seemed a formality for Celtic…beating Aberdeen 6-0 in the semi & walking all over RB Leipzig while they were losing to Killie & Aberdeen. Celtic haven’t lost since resuming after the last international break but they haven’t been flowing like before & some players have lost a bit of form. A few stodgy domestic displays & a pair of uninspiring CL draws. Meanwhile they seem to have come onto a game & stabilised things - they played well against Spurs the other night & won away to Nice in their previous Europa League game.
I think Celtic will probably be unchanged from midweek but that wasn’t the best performance. Johnston took a dunt on the hip & went off at half time but is apparently okay. Maeda & Kuhn on the flanks haven’t been as potent recently but Maeda has tormented Tavernier in these games. I think Bernardo has earned the midfield start & he was excellent in the derby at Celtic Park at the start of the season but Celtic need a firing Hatate - he’s mixed the sublime with the sloppy lately. Kyogo has a brilliant record in Hampden finals & against the huns. I’d have a slight fear for Taylor up against Cerny but I don’t think Rodgers will start Valle.
The huns workrate was savage against Spurs & I think they’ll try to repeat that kind of game plan with Raskin & Diomande potentially manmarking Hatate & McGregor. Teams lately have started to man mark Celtic’s key players, which is rare enough at that level. I don’t think the Huns would mind sacrificing their own game & would be grand with spoiling tactics. Celtic will need CCV to take more responsibility on the ball in that case & Taylor to pick up those pockets infield to receive possession & draw them out. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the huns again went with Yilmaz ahead of Jefte on the left, essentially two left backs to try nullify the marauding Johnston & Kuhn combination on the Celtic right.
I think Celtic are far superior in building the play, utilising overloads & making all these passing combinations but it’s a case of whether they can get into that rhythm with a team of rabid huns trying to disrupt. The huns will look to get the ball forward early & capitalise on quick breaks if they turn Celtic over. I recall in Ange’s first season the huns had a big knock-out Europa League win on the Thursday night ahead of the cup semi & I was confident that the morale boost would be more than offset by the physical toll of that effort against a rested Celtic. Yet they turned up on the Sunday & beat Celtic AET. Their club & support are real boom & bust merchants, they’re absolutely buzzing after the Spurs game & their belief appears to be back. But will they be able to replicate the energy levels, hard pressing, general intensity & get back up to the same emotional pitch again in less than 3 days? They did in that 2022 game but I suspect they won’t be able to this time. They’ll still have a few crunching tackles & dispossessions but I think Celtic will ultimately wear them down, find the gaps & pick them off with some quality moves.
Benches will be important too. McCowan is cup tied but Engels could have a crucial role to play. Idah, Forrest, Valle, Yang & Scales options here too. Winning this cup could set Celtic up for a fairly significant season with CL progression looking likely, the strong league position & the Scottish Cup to come. But they’ll need to earn it as the huns will be wiring into them from the off.
John Beaton referee with Alan Muir the VAR.
