Whenever Celtic play Rangers, enthusiasm is at the top. The latest Old Firm Derby, the biggest footballing occasion in Scottish football and one of the biggest in Europe, took place at Hampden on Sunday in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup. It was pretty closely contested, highly contrasting from the game that took place a month back at Parkhead in the Premiership. Celtic were the better of the two teams for major parts in the game but had to wait until the 87th minute to find the winner.
French young sensation Moussa Dembele joined Celtic just a few months back and has already made a big mark at the Paradise. The 20-year-old was the standout player for the Hoops last time out as Celtic ran the riot on their local rivals. He made the headlines on that occasion with a hat-trick and one assist and once again, the 20-year-old lived up to the big occasion. The youngster converted his fellow forward Leigh Griffiths’ cross in a brilliant fashion to hand Celtic their berth in the final.
Celtic will return to Hampden to face Aberdeen on Sunday 27 November and Brendan Rodgers will have his first chance to win a silverware with the Bhoys. Rangers looked pretty good in the game and stood firm against Celtic’s pressure. They created a number of chances on the break. Their best chance was when Jason Holt’s shot was blocked tremendously by Jozo Simunovic.
Celtic had a number of chances to take the lead. Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic both forced saves from Matt Gilks in the first half. Erik Sviatchenko had a goal disallowed while Sinclair’s free-kick was somehow saved by Gilks. However, Rangers finally had to surrender to the quality of Celtic as Celtic’s two gifted forwards combined beautifully to get the winner late in the game.
Twitter reacted to the Old Firm derby in plenty. Quite expectedly, Moussa Dembele was the one having all the limelight. Also, the Celtic fans did not let this opportunity go to take a dig at their local rivals. Here are some best tweets on the game-
Congratulations on my old club @celticfc on reaching the final told you Dembele would do ok for you ????????????
— Adam Virgo (@Adamvirgs19) October 23, 2016
Dembele’s backheel nutmegging the defender and the keeper????
— marc (@marcsimpsoncov) October 23, 2016
Moussa Dembele is really good. Just in case you hadn’t noticed.
— Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven) October 23, 2016
@ChrisMcHardy19 Celtic’s net balance with Fulham this summer was them paying £1.5m taking Stefan Johansen and Celtic getting Dembele…
— Paul McDaid (@paulmcdaid2) October 23, 2016
@ChrisMcHardy19 Celtic’s net balance with Fulham this summer was them paying £1.5m taking Stefan Johansen and Celtic getting Dembele…
— Paul McDaid (@paulmcdaid2) October 23, 2016
Warbuton is right. The gap between Celtic and the Rangers is narrower. But only because we’re coming back round to lap them.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) October 23, 2016
Celtic preparing to face Ran…Sev…a Scottish team
— Oldfirmfacts (@Oldfirmfacts1) October 23, 2016
