Celtic booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final as they produced one of the narrow football scores of the weekend action. After 18 minutes at Hampden Park, Japanese attacker Maeda converted Kyle Lafferty’s attempted clearance into the goal as Celtic sought to advance toward winning the trophy for the sixth time in seven years. After a VAR review rejected Maeda’s second goal and Reo Hatate’s shot was also disallowed, Giakoumakis sealed the victory in the 95th minute. Killie’s substitute Christian Doidge was denied an equalizer by Hoops goalkeeper Joe Hart in the 76th minute, and their late penalty requests were also denied after Giakoumakis collided with Joe Wright.
When Killie visited Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership on January 7, Celtic easily defeated them 2-0, and few people outside Rugby Park gave the Ayrshire team much of a chance. Killie’s Lafferty, who served a 10-game suspension for being captured on camera using sectarian language, unintentionally assisted in the first Hoops goal. Danny Armstrong, though, initially caused problems for the Celtic defense. Less than 30 seconds had passed before the Kilmarnock winger stretched forward and narrowly missed a cross. He then forced a corner, which Liam Donnelly headed behind.
Once again, Celtic was put under pressure when defender Carl Starfelt surrendered the ball to Rory McKenzie, who forced Hoops goalkeeper Hart into a fantastic save with a low effort. Josip Juranovic had replaced Alistair Johnston at right-back. The Parkhead side started to assert itself and quickly had the upper hand. Lafferty’s effort to clear the ball from inside the six-yard box after midfielder Aaron Mooy sent a free kick into the box from the right deflected off Maeda’s chest and into the goal. The Rugby Park team soon rallied, as Hart parried a header from Joe Wright before Donnelly headed the ensuing corner over the crossbar. These were opportunities that Derek McInnes’ team could ill afford to waste.
Lafferty and Donnelly were replaced by Doidge and Liam Polworth at the start of the second half. Hatate, a midfielder for Celtic, had the ball in the net in the 49th minute, but VAR disallowed the goal for offside. Six minutes later, he fired a shot from the edge of the box wide. On the hour mark, Maeda beat Sam Walker of Killie with a shot from 14 yards, but VAR disallowed the score for an earlier offside on fellow countryman Kyogo Furuhashi who had let him through. Although Celtic was in command, Armstrong’s stretch shot into the side-netting at the other end came after a Killie break.
Just before Hart made an outstanding save from Doidge’s close-range shot, Postecoglou made a triple substitution, bringing on Giakoumakis, Liel Abada, and Matt O’Riley in place of Jota, Furuhashi, and Hatate, with Kilmarnock’s Scott Robinson replacing Vassell. Walker dove low to deflect Mooy’s curling attempt clear in the 83rd minute as action dragged from end to end, and Abada’s header went wide of the goal. Walker spilled a shot from fellow Hoops substitute David Turnbull, but Giakoumakis, who might have given away a penalty when he clumsily challenged Wright inside the area, tapped the ball into an open net at the very last second.
“It was a challenging game, as you could anticipate from a cup semifinal. Derek and his crew deserve praise for giving the competition everything they had. It was disappointed that we had to match it because the pitch wasn’t in terrific shape,” Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said. “But the fact that it’s not only about the football speaks well of this team. There is a strong ambition and determination to overcome any obstacle. It was a struggle, arm wrestling in a cup semifinal played in difficult circumstances. We would never be able to play through them or gain any open space. We couldn’t play their game using their program.”
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