Celtic kept their hopes of a treble alive as they produced one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Scottish Cup. In a tight Old Firm semifinal at Hampden Park, the Portuguese winger capitalized on a defensive miscue to put Ange Postecoglou’s team ahead in the 42nd minute. Rabbi Matondo, Fashion Sakala, James Tavernier, and Alfredo Morelos all had opportunities to tie the game for Rangers but were unable to get past the Celtic defense. Now with a chance to win another domestic treble, Celtic will take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the championship game on June 3. Rangers are almost certainly going to finish the season without a trophy since the Hoops are only three points away from defending their crown.
Connor Goldson, a defender, and Ryan Kent, a winger, were both returned for Rangers following injuries, and Reo Hatate and Jota were starters for Celtic. When Willie Collum hurt himself during the warm-up, Don Robertson was brought in to serve as the match referee before John Beaton took his place. After a brief pause to clear the smoke from fireworks sent off by both sets of supporters, Rangers got the game underway with a 20-yard attempt from Nicolas Raskin that was deflected wide in the first minute.
The Rangers defence was subsequently forced to clear numerous dangerous passes into the box as Celtic took control of the game, but their first efforts on goal didn’t come until the 27th minute when Allan McGregor turned aside attempts from Alistair Johnston and Jota. Rangers’ season has been hampered by injuries, and Scott Arfield, a seasoned midfielder, took Malik Tillman’s place before halftime. Celtic took the lead right before halftime thanks to a disastrous defensive performance. When Matt O’Riley went to the ground, Rangers stopped responding. Daizen Maeda pounced and Jota headed in his perfectly weighted cross.
Michael Beale made a move at halftime, replacing Kent with Sakala, knowing that it was Rangers’ last chance to win a trophy. Only a brilliant defensive play by Cameron Carter-Vickers, who cleared the ball off the line, prevented Morelos from tying the score. The game swung back in favor of the Hoops when Celtic lost key defender Johnston to injury and Anthony Ralston replaced him. McGregor did well to deflect Kyogo’s shot wide as the Japanese striker tried to score in a fourth straight Old Firm match. On the hour, Joe Hart had to react to stop Sakala’s header from going in to give Celtic the lead.
Tavernier watched his effort smash against the post as Rangers’ chances of retaining the Scottish Cup were dwindling, and Sakala sent the rebound into the side netting. As the holders continued to press for a key goal, the Rangers captain headed Borna Barisic’s cross narrowly over the crossbar, Hart deflected Matondo’s attempt to safety, and Carter-Vickers cleared Ridvan Yilmaz’s attempt. However, as time ran out and Beale’s team became more desperate, Celtic sat down and took the pressure to finish the game.
“I’m really pleased of the athletes because they had to earn it, like they should in a semi-final. We understood what was at risk. We knew it would take all elements of our game since this was the Rangers’ last chance to succeed, and I believe we achieved that,” Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou said. “The incredible work ethic this squad possesses helped us play our game when it was necessary and defend strongly when it was. They deserve all the credit for finding a solution to overcome the difficulty once more. I get the story; we’ll get fortunate again, but it’s okay; we’ll simply keep winning football games.”
“I’m utterly let down. Big matches typically come down to razor-thin margins, and I believe we just made another mistake and gave up a goal. The game has been quite unfair to us. We had important situations that we didn’t execute in the second half, but I believed we took the game to Celtic,” Rangers boss Michael Beale said. “You cannot have that much play where you can make a mistake and get away with it in big games. We have long believed that we pose a threat. Similar to the cup final here, we did a lot of nice running in the second half and had chances, but we aren’t taking advantage of them.”
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