2018-12-02: Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen, League Cup

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Review

Brendan Rodgers on his 7th consecutive trophy: “I take great pride and it feels great. My happiness is more for the players and the supporters. It was a very satisfying day for us, and the players, they deserve a huge amount of credit because they’ve been amazing since I’ve come in.”

(celticjoe of KDS)
Christie's goal was straight from the training ground. We had Dons well worked out.
They man-marked our attacking players very tightly – Considine on Edouard, Lowe on Forrest, Logan on Christie, Ball on Rogic, Shinnie on Christie.
So we pulled them all over the place, with French Eddie in particular taking Considine for a walk, leaving a gap in behind.
McKenna should have covered, but he was probably worried about Forrest on the other side.
About 10 minutes before the goal Eddie went deep, Sinclair ran away from Logan, but Boyata hit the ball too long straight through to Lewis.
But for the goal, Eddie went deep, Sinclair stayed wide, and Christie ran away from Shinnie.
Logan could have covered his run but, at the crucial moment, glanced the wrong way to see where Sincy was.
This time Boyata's through ball was on the money and, at the second attempt, wee Ryan netted.
A great team goal. Well done Brendan and the coaches.

(Barcabhoy on KDS)
Delighted to win. Aberdeen made it scrappy , but we deserved that. Dallas was way out of his comfort zone .Terrible decisions against both teams all day Winning after away games in Europe isn’t easy , and I think it showed Christie continues to prove me wrong. Well done him

Teams

Celtic

• 29 Bain
• 23 Lustig
• 20 Boyata Substituted for Simunovic at 61'minutes

• 32 Benkovic
• 63 Tierney
• 42 McGregor
• 49 ForrestBooked at 24min Substituted for Ntcham at 86'minutes
• 18 RogicBooked at 59mins Substituted for Brown at 64'minutes

• 17 Christie Booked at 50mins
• 11 Sinclair
• 22 Edouard

Substitutes

• 1 Gordon
• 5 Simunovic
• 8 Brown
• 9 Griffiths
• 12 Gamboa
• 15 Hayes
• 21 Ntcham

Aberdeen

• 1Lewis
• 2LoganBooked at 68mins
• 5McKenna
• 4Considine
• 29Lowe
• 21BallBooked at 60mins
• 3Shinnie
• 11Mackay-Steven Substituted forMcLennanat 45+2'minutes
• 19FergusonBooked at 78mins
• 10McGinnSubstituted forWilsonat 70'minutes
• 16CosgroveBooked at 78minsSubstituted forAndersonat 79'minutes

Substitutes

• 8Gleeson
• 9Wilson
• 15Wright
• 17May
• 20Cerny
• 25Anderson
• 27McLennan

Referee:
o Andrew Dallas
Attendance:
o 50,936

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Stats

Home Team
Celtic
Away Team
Aberdeen

Possession
Home52%
Away48%

Shots
Home17
Away7

Shots on Target
Home7
Away2

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Home6
Away3

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Home14
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Articles

Celtic 1 – 0 Aberdeen: Ryan Christie goal settles Betfred Cup final

Published: 17:00 Sunday 02 December 2018
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https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/league-cup/celtic-1-0-aberdeen-ryan-christie-goal-settles-betfred-cup-final-1-4838037
Ryan Christie was the hero as Celtic made it a magnificent seven successive trophy wins with a 1-0 victory over Aberdeen in the Betfred Cup final at Hampden Park.

The midfielder, who had two spells on loan at the Pittodrie club prior to this season, scored what proved to be the winner with a shot in added time at the end of the first half.

Dons keeper Joe Lewis brilliantly saved Scott Sinclair’s controversial penalty in the 52nd minute of a pulsating second-half which thrilled until the final whistle.

Since taking charge of the Parkead club in 2016, boss Brendan Rodgers has won every piece of silverware on offer and this most recent victory – the 18th in the competition for Celtic – is the first step towards a domestic treble-treble.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has now lost three cup finals to Celtic during the Hoops’ current period of domination which shows no sign of abating, but his side put up a valiant display, if there is any consolation to be had from that.

For Rodgers, he can do no wrong in Scottish football.

He made only one change from the side which started the 1-0 Europa League win over Rosenborg in Trondheim with deputy keeper Scott Bain taking over from Craig Gordon, as he had done in previous rounds of the competition.

McInnes went with the burly figure of Sam Cosgrove in attack and there was no sign of any Aberdeen reticence in the rough and tumble first half.

Hoops midfielder Tom Rogic struck the outside of the post in the seventh minute with a left-footed snap-shot from 25 yards before James Forrest’s attempt with the outside of his right foot escaped keeper Lewis’s right-hand post by a yard.

Bain was tested for the first time in the 16th minute with a close-range shot from Andrew Considine following a corner although the flag was up for offside.

Aberdeen battled for a share of possession and in the 36th minute midfielder Lewis Ferguson headed a Niall McGinn corner over the bar.

The Hoops defender was able to play on after treatment but the former Celt, after a lengthy spell of attention from the medical staff, was taken off the field in a stretcher to an ovation from both sets of supporters, to be replaced by Connor McLennan.

There were six added minutes at the end of the first half and just before they came to an end Celtic went ahead.

Christie raced on to a long pass from Boyata, forced his way past Dons captain Graeme Shinnie and with Shay Logan and Scott McKenna also in the vicinity, he slammed the ball high into the net, after his first shot had been parried by Lewis.

There was drama seven minutes after the break when Dons midfielder Dominic Ball was judged by referee Andrew Dallas to have handled a Christie pass inside the box.

It looked not only accidental but outside the penalty area – but Lewis threw himself to his right to push Sinclair’s penalty behind for a corner which was defended by the Pittrodrie side who recognised they had been given a lifeline.

Lewis then saved a powerful drive from Celtic defender Filip Benkovic and again the Dons held firm at the corner.

Defender Jozo Simunovic replaced Boyata on the hour-mark and immediately his attempted clearance smacked off his own crossbar.

Scott Brown came on for Rogic and the all-action match continued apace.

McKenna flashed a header across the Celtic six-yard box before Lewis saved two Odsonne Edouard attempts.

However, Aberdeen ran out of time before Celtic fans celebrated another trophy win with more promised before the end of the season.

Brendan Rodgers hails ‘incredible mentality’ of Celtic stars

Remaining Time -1:30
Stephen Halliday
Published: 19:48 Sunday 02 December 2018
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/league-cup/brendan-rodgers-hails-incredible-mentality-of-celtic-stars-1-4838124
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed the ‘incredible mentality’ of his players as they maintained their stranglehold on Scottish domestic silverware with the seventh consecutive trophy win of his tenure.

Ryan Christie scored the only goal of an absorbing Betfred Cup Final against Aberdeen, the midfielder’s strike against the club where he spent 18 months on loan being described by Rodgers as an act of the ‘football gods’.

While not entirely content with the technical and tactical level of his team’s performance at Hampden, Rodgers was full of praise for the heart and desire they displayed to extend the club’s domestic dominance.

It was a victory which also saw Rodgers reach a personal milestone as he equalled the all-time record of seven straight Scottish trophy triumphs for a manager set by Walter Smith at Rangers 24 years ago.

“Of course I take great pride in that and it feels great,” said Rodgers. “But my happiness is more for the players and the supporters. It’s a really satisfying day for us and the players deserve a huge amount of credit. The medal they have around their necks and the seventh trophy, they deserve all of it because they’ve been amazing since I came in.

“Like I said to them afterwards, we have to analyse the game because we can be better on the fast break attack and be more clinical. My overriding emotion is that I’m very proud of everything we are doing but we still have lots to improve on.

“They showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight. After the run of the games we’ve had, and especially after Thursday night away to Rosenborg, it’s a really tough game to play against Aberdeen because they’re very physical and very strong. To show the quality for the goal, that was probably our biggest moment in the first half.

“My only disappointment with the second half was we could have been more clinical in key moments, especially when you’re having to defend a bit deeper. We broke away fantastic, the pace we broke away with and the support we had up there but we never made the last pass, which then makes the game a lot tighter towards the end than it should have been.

“That’s my only criticism. It was incredible mentality from the players, the focus in their game was very, very good.

“It’s the footballing gods that we saw today with Ryan scoring the goal. Lo and behold, he scored against the team he was at for 18 months.”

BBC

By Tom English

BBC Scotland at Hampden Park

3 hours ago From the section Scottish League Cup 100

Celtic lift the Scottish Legue Cup
Celtic won a fiery Scottish League Cup final to clinch the trophy for the 18th time

Former Aberdeen loanee Ryan Christie scored the only goal as Brendan Rodgers led Celtic to his seventh straight domestic trophy and the club's 18th Scottish League Cup.

Dons winger Gary Mackay-Steven was knocked out by a clash of heads and carried off before Christie's strike in first-half injury time.

Celtic won a controversial 52nd-minute penalty but Scott Sinclair's spot kick was brilliantly saved by Joe Lewis.

Aberdeen could not find a leveller.

And Celtic could have doubled their lead when Sinclair broke free in the box but floated over, Lewis twice denied Odsonne Edouard, and the French striker spurned a great opportunity to play in a team-mate on an injury-time counter-attack.

The victory was Celtic's 22nd successive cup win since Rodgers took charge in the summer of 2016.

Cup win 'most satisfying' of seven in a row for Rodgers
Mackay-Steven 'okay' after cup final concussion
Cup final hero Christie feared Celtic exit
Who was your man of the match at Hampden?

Clinical Christie strikes
Ryan Christie scores for Celtic against Aberdeen
Ryan Christie fired past Joe Lewis at the second time of asking to put Celtic ahead

The final had been tighter than a drum before Christie's clinical moment, a game of huge intensity where Aberdeen went virtually man-for-man on Celtic's most influential midfielders and managed to all-but stifle their danger.

They had a scary moment early on when Tom Rogic saw a shot slap back off Lewis' right-hand post, but in the main it was an even contest.

Dominic Ball, Graeme Shinnie and Lewis Ferguson were in the faces of Christie, Callum McGregor and Rogic. Out wide, Sinclair wasn't getting any change out of Shay Logan down the left and James Forrest was in a battle with Max Lowe down the right.

Dons boss Derek McInnes would have been a happy man with the way things were going until late in the opening half. Their problems, ironically, started when they created a decent chance. Logan swung in a cross which was met by Mackay-Steven who headed straight at Bain.

What happened in the process of Mackay-Steven heading the ball was awful and deeply worrying. A clash of heads between the Aberdeen winger and Dedryck Boyata halted play for six or seven minutes. Boyata got up and a bandage was applied to his bloody wound. Mackay-Steven didn't get up, however. There was significant concern about his wellbeing as he lay on the floor.

Eventually, he was stretchered away and the final carried on into the final minutes of the half. That's when Aberdeen suffered their second blow, a double-whammy of disappointment. Five added minutes of six had been played when Boyata floated a ball over the top and into Aberdeen's penalty area.

Christie came to life in the blink of an eye, getting away from Shinnie and into space left by Aberdeen's sleeping centre-halves. The midfielder was one-on-one with Lewis, but the goalkeeper blocked his first attempt. When the ball fell loose, Christie was again the most alert man in Hampden. Even though he was falling over at the time he managed to stay in the moment, fend off Logan, and put the rebound into the Aberdeen net.
Celtic turn up the heat amid 'poor officiating'
Scott Sinclair's penalty is saved by Joe Lewis
Joe Lewis dived to his right to deny Scott Sinclair from 12 yards

Celtic – now bearing down on seven titles in a row under Rodgers – turned up the heat in the new half. Poor officiating gave them a golden chance to make it 2-0 when Ball was adjudged to have handled in the box. He didn't. When ball struck arm, the arm was outside the penalty area, but referee Andrew Dallas gave Celtic the decision and Sinclair stepped up.

Lewis' save was magnificent, the goalkeeper flinging himself to his right and beating the ball away. Moments later he went the other way to deny Filip Benkovic. The Dons were reeling.

Just after the hour, Boyata came off and was replaced by Jozo Simunovic who was on the field a matter of seconds when he stuck out a leg in trying to dispossess Niall McGinn and only managed to poke the ball on to his own crossbar. That was a dramatic moment – and it wasn't the last of them.

Things opened up and tempers became frayed. Scott Brown came on to the field and Celtic pushed for a second. McGregor launched a counter-attack and played in Sinclair whose dinked effort fell wide.

All the while, Aberdeen fought and scrapped to get themselves back into it. They threw their heart and soul into everything. James Wilson appeared off the bench and his hooked effort was saved by Bain. How the Dons craved a gilt-edged chance in those closing moments, but Celtic were too organised, too confident, too good.

They should have scored a second minutes from the end when Odsonne Edouard broke free and went himself when a simple pass to Sinclair or Kieran Tierney would have given Celtic a near-unmissable opportunity. Profligacy didn't cost them, though. They saw it out and won the day – again.