Celtic secures 100th major football trophy
Celtic eased aside Aberdeen to lift the Scottish League Cup for the 16th time and secure their 100th major trophy – the first of the Brendan Rodgers era.
Tom Rogic’s precise drive into the far corner – his third against the Dons this season – gave the Premiership leaders a 16th-minute lead at Hampden.
Fellow midfielder James Forrest extended it with an almost identical strike eight minutes before the break.
The Dons threatened only briefly before Moussa Dembele’s second-half penalty.
Celtic had shown no ill-effects from their midweek Champions League defeat by Barcelona as they remained unbeaten domestically this season and secured a 10th straight win outwith their European ventures.
Aberdeen’s fourth defeat in a row by their opponents – their third this season – denied Derek McInnes his second League Cup triumph as the Pittodrie side’s manager.
Celtic were looking dangerous even before they scored, Dembele’s header forcing a save from Joe Lewis.
It was Rogic who unlocked this final though. Having scored in Celtic’s 4-1 win over the Dons earlier in the season at Pittodrie and also scoring the winner in the 1-0 victory at Parkhead, the Australian delivered once more.
It had much to do with Aberdeen’s incredible inability to deny Celtic space. It was a curse that blighted them all day. They were easy meat far too often.
For the opener, Jozo Simunovic stepped forward into attack, slid a pass to Rogic, who had time to take a look, take aim and fire past goalkeeper Joe Lewis.
Dons blow their chance
Teams tend to live off scraps against Celtic in domestic competition, so when an opponent gets a chance, they’d better take it. Aberdeen didn’t.
Trailing 1-0, Andrew Considine had a close-range header that he had to score from. Instead, he directed his effort too close to Craig Gordon and the goalkeeper beat it away.
Celtic kicked-on, owning large amounts of possession and threatening to exploit all the freedom Aberdeen were giving them. Scott Brown had the run of midfield, Rogic was excellent, Forrest was lively.
It was the winger who doubled the lead and again it was a catastrophe for underdogs.
The goal had its origins deep inside Celtic’s own half, near their right-hand corner. When Forrest took possession, he was still inside the centre-circle.
He ran and ran. Aberdeen had enough bodies to deal with him but none of them took any kind of responsibility, as if transfixed by his on-coming presence.
Forrest got close enough to goal and whipped his shot across Lewis and into the corner of his net. A gorgeous finish.
–
Souce: BBC