Celtic’s remarkable winning run at Hampden ended yesterday | OneFootball

Celtic’s latest Treble Dreams ended at Hampden yesterday and so too did the long unbeaten run at the national stadium going all the way back to April 2016. After a penalty shootout defeat to theRangers in the 2016 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic reacted in a devastating manner going on a long unbeaten run in matches at the national stadium with yielded nine trophies under three managers as Celtic went about piling on the agony on the rest of Scottish football.

Moussa Dembele kicks off Celtic’s amazing Hamden run…

That run started with a 1-0 win at the National stadium against theRangers in the League Cup semi-final on 23 October 2016 with Moussa Dembele scoring the only goal of the game to take Celtic into the final against Aberdeen and on 27 November 2016 the run was extended to two games with a dominant 3-0 victory with the goals coming from Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Moussa Dembele.

In 2017 Celtic played at Hampden on four occasions and won the Scottish Cup to compete a treble and retained the League Cup later in the year. Once again theRangers were beaten in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 23 April, this time the score was 2-0 with the goals coming from Callum McGregor and Scotty Sinclair. And that set-up a final re-match against Aberdeen on 27 May and the Dons drew first blood with a decent Jonny Hayes goal before Stuart Armstrong levelled the match immediately from the re-start and then in the closing stages Tom Rogic scored one of the greatest goals Hampden has ever seen to win Celtic the Scottish Cup and complete an Invincible treble for Brendan Rodgers.

Rogic Scores the Winner in the 2017 Scottish Cup Final

On 21 October Celtic were back at Hampden to play in the League Cup semi-final against Hibs and Brendan Rodgers’ side won that one 4-2 in what was an entertaining match. Celtic goals came from an unlikely double from Mikael Lustig and and that was matched by two goals from Moussa Dembele, who always enjoyed playing at Hampden. Rodgers would tell his players to stay in your own game and that would be more than enough to see Celtic through as Hampden wins soon brought more and more silverware back to Paradise.

The League Cup Final took place at Hampden on 26 November and this time the opposition was Motherwell. Celtic continued to build on their impressive Hampden showings with a 2-0 win with the goals coming in the second half from James Forrest and another one from Moussa Dembele.

Scotty Sinclair holding the League Cup after the win over Motherwell

In 2018 Celtic only managed three appearances at Hampden but still retained both the Scottish Cup and the League Cup. The League Cup semi-final that year between Celtic and Hearts was actually played on 28 October at Murrayfield, but moving the game to Edinburgh didn’t appear to do the Tynecastle outfit much good as Celtic won the match 3-0 with goals from Scotty Sinclair, James Forrest and Ryan Christie to set up a place in the final against Aberdeen, who got the better of theRangers in the other semi-final which was played at Hampden on the same day.

But jumping back to earlier in the 2018 and Celtic thrashed theRangers 4-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 15 April with the goals coming from Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor, Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham. That set up a final, once again against Motherwell on 19 May and the score was the same as before, Celtic winning the Scottish Cup yet again, with the goals coming from Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham as a back-to-back treble was completed.

Celtic’s third Hampden appearance of the year took place on 2 December 2018 and a Ryan Christie goal against Aberdeen was enough to make sure that the Green and White ribbons remained around the League Cup as Celtic looked forward to 2019 and the chance to complete a Treble Treble. something completely unheard of in the history of Scottish football.

Celtic under Brendan Rodgers had been at Hampden on nine occasions and had won them all, they’ve even taken a detour to Murrayfield and had a 100% win record there too in cup competitions under Rodgers, but that would be that as Leicester City came calling in early 2019 and Rodgers was off sharpish to be replaced by Neil Lennon.

In 2019 it was back to four visits for Celtic to Hampden – Aberdeen were beaten 3-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 14 April with the goals coming from James Forrest, Odsonne Edouard and Tom Rogic and a double from Odsonne Edouard was enough to get the better of Hearts in the final on 25 May with the final score being Celtic 2 Hearts 1. Neil Lennon had delivered another Scottish Cup as a Treble Treble for Celtic was won.

Later that year on 2 November, 2019 Lennon took Celtic back to Hampden for the League Cup semi-final against Hibs and although the Easter Road side managed to score twice Celtic were always on the ascendency and hit the back of the Hibs net five times with the goals coming from doubles from Moi Elyounoussi and Scott Brown and one from Callum McGregor. That set up a League Cup final against theRangers on 8 December and a goal from Christopher Jullien was enough to retain the trophy for a fourth consecutive season.

Hampden days out were curtailed by Covid and the 2020 Scottish Cup semi-finals and final were pushed back to later in the year. Celtic had won the league yet again so had to wait to see if a Quadruple Treble could be won and Aberdeen, having suffered as much as many other sides during this remarkable Hampden run that Celtic had put together, were hopeful that with the semi-final being played behind closed doors on 1 November 2020 they could end Celtic’s Hampden domination. It was not to be though as Celtic scored twice without reply to win a place in the final against Hearts. The semi-final goals were scored by Ryan Christie and Moi Elyounoussi.

The 2020 Scottish Cup final took place on 20 December, again behind closed doors. The match ended 2-2 after 90 minutes and both sides scored in extra time to take the final to a penalty shoot-out, with Celtic winning that 4-3. The three Celtic goals during the match were scored by Ryan Christie, Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths. Kris Ajer scored the winning penalty after Conor Hazard had made tow saves in the shoot-out. Celtic had completed a remarkable Quadruple Treble but frustratingly here were no supporters there to share the remarkable achievement with.

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

In 2021 Celtic didn’t make it to Hampden at all and incidentally neither did theRangers. St Johnstone beat Livingston in the League Cup final early in the year, to become the first side other than Celtic since Hibs beat theRangers 3-2 in the 2016 Scottish Cup Final to lift a trophy. The Saints added to their cup glory season by adding the Scottish Cup, beating Hibs in the final – a noteworthy achievement in its own right for the Perth club.

Callum McGregor and James Forrest celebrating at Hampden last weekend. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Ange Postecoglou was appointed as the new Celtic manager in June 2021 and had Celtic back at Hampden on 20 November to continue the club’s long unbeaten run at the National stadium. The occasion was the League Cup semi-final against the current holders St Johnstone and a goal from James Forrest was enough to give Celtic another Hampden win and a place in the final against Hibs. That match took place at Hampden on 19 December 2021 and after falling behind, a double from Kyogo turned the game in Celtic’s favour to give Ange Postecoglou his first trophy as Celtic manager.

Goalscorer Kyogo Furuhashi, Celtic Manager Angelos Postecoglou and captain Callum McGregor of Celtic celebrate with the trophy

On 17 April 2022 Celtic were back at Hampden after 17 consecutive wins at the national stadium that had seen the Hoops win a Quadruple Treble and another League Cup – that’s FOUR Scottish Cups and FIVE  league cups won at the national stadium before another Scottish club could get the better of Celtic at the National Stadium. The run had to end sometime and although Greg Taylor gave Celtic the lead theRangers grabbed a late equaliser then got the winner in extra-time. Celtic’s remarkable winning run at Hampden was over.

Rather than being too disappointed at losing the Scottish Cup semi-final and with it the chance of securing another Treble, Celtic supporters will now have a chance to reflect on the remarkable achievement from Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglou and all their Celtic players.

The run started after theRangers beat Celtic in a penalty shoot-out in April 2016 and how they celebrated, just like yesterday. Yet it should be remembered that Celtic made them suffer for years after that. Maybe that’s what Celtic have in store for them after yesterday. Piling on the agony all over again.

More Stories / Latest

On This Day in 2004: Stan Petrov fires Celtic to league title

Apr 18 2022, 22:26

Celtic’s remarkable winning run at Hampden ended yesterday

Apr 18 2022, 22:23

Former Celtic midfield duo join forces for life after football

Apr 18 2022, 21:34