Celtic deserving of Premier Sports Cup triumph against the Rangers | OneFootball

We weren’t at our best, but we were the only side wanting to play football, and in the end the trophy went to the most deserving side…

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s third goal during the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

I’m sure like me, most of you are still trying to recover from the nerves being put through the old emotional wringer. For me it was quite similar to last season’s Scottish Cup semi final win over Aberdeen. We went behind, went in front, pegged back, went in front again, pegged back again, and of course it finished with the same scoreline before going to the lottery that is a penalty shootout.

We weren’t at our best yesterday, far from it. We were the architects of our own downfall, especially with the first goal. We handed them the opportunity on a plate and they duly took it to take a one goal lead into the break.

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Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, looks on prior to the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on December 15, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

But to Celtic’s credit we came out all guns blazing in the second half and played the game the way it should be, creative and attacking football. Contrast that to theRangers who seemed to just hoof the ball up the park and kick our players at every opportunity, as the final caution count will tell you.

We got our reward through a bit of luck it has to be said when Greg Taylor fired us level through the aid of a deflection, but as they say if you don’t shoot you don’t score. They also benefited from a deflected goal yesterday so that evened itself out.

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Cameron Carter-Vickers of Celtic celebrates with teammates after the team’s victory in the penalty shoot out during the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

There was nothing lucky about Daizen Maeda’s goal that put us in front. It really was a fine taken effort from the man who loves a Glasgow Derby day. Only Daizen could get an assist for his own wonderful goal!

We of course were pegged back when Diomande brought the Ibrox club level and we were all square once again. Nicolas Kuhn looked like he had won the game with a fine finish with just three minutes of normal time remaining, but as we were all still celebrating we shot ourselves in the foot by allowing Danilo to score a header unchallenged, it really was uncharacteristic poor defending from ourselves, although the cross should never have been allowed to come into our box.

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Kasper Schmeichel celebrates after winning the Premier Sports Cup Final between Celtic and theRangers at Hampden Park on December 15, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We were the much better side in extra time, but couldn’t find that elusive winner while theRangers seemed more than happy to hold on for the penalty shoot-out.  So after 120 minutes plus added time it went to the lottery of spot kick shootout. .

Celtic prevailed and showed our character as we scored five times in a row, all in front of theRangers end while they missed one, a fie save from Kasper Schmeichel

Kasper and Daizen of course are being hailed as the heroes, but it’s a team game and each and every player played their part in a deserved victory.

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