The pain of Celtic’s defeat to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup would have been sore inside the Hampden dressing room.
Celtic were comfortable at 1-0 up with just ten minutes to go until Kasper Schmeichel’s fumble allowed Aberdeen a way back into the match late on in the Scottish Cup final.
But even with an extra 30 minutes, Celtic still could not find the winner and the Bhoys eventually succumbed to Aberdeen on penalties.
The minute Callum McGregor missed Celtic’s first penalty, the dread that hit many fans and the players was instant as the shoot-out got off to the worst possible start.
And as Alistair Johnston’s effort was saved the cup was lost as was any chance of Celtic picking up a world-record ninth domestic treble.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor was gutted, as were the rest of the Hoops team so what did Brendan Rodgers tell them inside Hampden as the pain of an unusual cup final defeat sunk in?
- READ MORE: ‘Come on’ – Scott Allan not having what Hugh Keevins said about Celtic’s Paulo Bernardo vs Aberdeen
Brendan Rodgers tells his Celtic players to look at ‘the bigger picture’
As with any cup final defeat at the end of a season, it puts a dampener on the rest of the summer but Rodgers believes his Celtic team should look back on this season with pride.
Rodgers told the assembled press conference, “The bigger picture, we’ve won two out of three domestic trophies and progressed in Europe.
“And now is the time to go away with your families, because they will need them and their support, and they have that time to reflect, and then after a few weeks, they’ll realise that, okay, we missed a chance today to win the three trophies, but still we’ve been consistently very good over the course of the season.
“And then we come back, remotivated and renew the motivation in the summer.”
Rodgers always said that when he returned to Celtic he wanted to continue the club’s domestic dominance and progress in Europe.
It’s fair to say that winning four trophies out of six so far and getting out of the Champions League group stages has done that and that is what the Celtic players should focus on.
Five of Celtic’s best results this season
Celtic have given the fans some excellent memories this season and with over 55 fixtures completed there are some great highlights to choose from.
So with that in mind, here are 67 Hail Hail’s five best results for the Hoops this season:
- September 2024: Celtic 3 v 0 Rangers
- September 2024: Celtic 5 v 1 Slovan Bratislava
- October 2024: Atalanta 0 v 0 Celtic
- November 2024: Celtic 3 v 1 RB Leipzig
- December 2024: Celtic 3 v 3 Rangers. League Cup Final [Celtic win 6-5 on penalties]
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
