Celtic wins the Scottish Cup
8 August 2018
Every club in Scotland desires the Scottish Cup, and Celtic managed to do the impossible – claim a historic double-treble, an achievement which has never been made in Scotland. Brendan Rodgers’ team had already won the Scottish Premiership and Scottish League Cup, and they needed to win at Hamden Park in order to secure all three cups in successive years.
The competition started in September with 92 clubs seeking the ultimate prize and the same two clubs which played in the League Cup Final in November two seasons in a row- Celtic and Motherwell, were in the final. Celtic went in as heavy favorites, wanting to make history. Just like back in November, Celtic won over Motherwell with 2:0.
Celtic started with Gordon, Lustig, Boyata, Ajer, Tierney, Ntcham, Brown, Forrest, Rogic, McGregor and Dembele, and Motherwell with Carson, Kipre, Aldred, Dunne, Cadden, Campbell, McHugh, Grimshaw, Tait, Main and Bowman. Both goals came in the first half quite early, giving Celtic a significant advantage and putting additional pressure on their opponents, ultimately securing the victory.
Celtic used their first chance after only ten minutes and took the lead. Charles Dunne made a pass to Callum McGregor who shot a brilliant half-volley strike in off the left post from the edge of the box with his weaker right foot. Just 14 minutes later, Olivier Ntcham received a pass from Dembele and took a shot from about 20 meters, placing the ball into the bottom-left corner. Motherwell’s Curtis Main collected a pass on the edge of the box in the 29th minute, but his shot went high over the bar. Six minutes later, Tom Rogic fired a low shot from the edge of the box, but Trevor Carson was alert and denied it with a great save near the penalty spot. Celtic continued to dominate throughout the entire second half. Moussa Dembele had a few more chances to cement his team’s victory – a shot wide of the left post (65’), a missed header from inside the box (71’) and a rebound on the edge of the penalty area (71’) – but the result from first half turned out to be the final result of the game. The best chance for Motherwell came in the 80th minute when Gael Bigirimana fired a superb shot which hit the right post. Statistically, having the ball 61% of the time, with more goal attempts (16-10) and more shots on goal (6-5), Celtic deserved the victory.