Celtic continued their dominance in Scottish football as they defeated their old rivals Rangers 1-0 at Hampden Park in the Cup final.
Celtic Goalkeeper Fraser Forster had a busy day as he made a lot of crucial saves to deny Rangers and keep the score 0-0 at the interval.
Steven Gerrard side threw away loads of chances as they fail to convert their goalscoring opportunities. However, they got punished by the Hoops as Defender Christopher Julien overturned a Ryan Christie free-kick in the 59th minute.
Rangers were awarded a penalty after Celtic’s right back Jeremie Frimpong was sent off by referee Willie Collum for a foul on Alfredo Morelos. The striker stepped up to take the spot-kick only for the impressive Forster to make a brilliant save.
Lennon’s 10-men held on till the end as they recorded a 10th consecutive win and his first success in the tournament as a manager as they dealt Rangers with a blow who have gone eight years without any significant piece silverware.
Earlier before the lineups, word had spread that Odsonne Edouard was only fit to make the bench. Nir Bitton, Olivier Ntcham, and Moritz Bauer were dropped as Mohamed Elyounoussi and Johnny Hayes together with Frimpong and Julien returning to the starting lineup with Greg Taylor Cup-tied.
On the other hand, Rangers saw Borna Barisic recovered in time from a foot injury to
replace Jon Flanagan as Glen Kamara came in for the injured Steven Davis.
It was a wet day as both teams experienced a downpour of rain as Rangers comfortably bossed the first half as Conor Goldson missed the target twice from fantastic deliveries from James Tavernier free-kick. Afterwards, Forster made a terrific save from Ryan Jack’s 30-yard stunner.
Rangers kept on knocking, but the Celtic defence stood tall and rebuffed any threats posed by Rangers.
Celtic are set to face CFR Cluj in the Europa League. Celtic are available at 3.70, while Cluj are fancied at 2.09.
Written by: Olumide Akinnifesi
