There was plenty of needle between Celtic and Aberdeen in yesterday’s Betfred Cup Final.
Although it was by no means a classic, the game was played in a ferocious manner.
While it didn’t exactly boil over, there was plenty of incident in a dramatic decider at Hampden.
Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie slammed Scott Brown claiming the Celtic captain had ‘no class.’ The Dons skipper appeared unhappy at Celtic’s reaction to Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson at full time.
Derek McInnes had a pop at Mikael Lustig for celebrating in the youngster’s face.
The truth of the matter is, Celtic rose to Aberdeen’s challenge on Sunday. The Dons got what they deserved – nothing.
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Every big game against Celtic, McInnes makes one glaring error before kick off. He starts his big target man, hoping he will bully Celtic’s defence into submission.
It never works. Jayden Stockley couldn’t defeat Celtic and now Sam Cosgrove can’t either.
McInnes sent his team out to hurt Celtic, and then can’t take it when his ‘master-plan’ fails.
A class above
Celtic proved again that they are a class apart in Scottish football. However they’ll need to take one lesson from yesterday’s game.
Celtic’s continued dominance is beginning to hurt rest of Scottish football. Aberdeen may have been the opponents, but Celtic are up against everyone else in Scotland now.
The treble treble is a viable dream now, and Celtic must strive ahead to ensure they give themselves the best chance to achieve it.
There will be calls for a national holiday the next time Celtic fail to win a domestic trophy.
The Bhoys must take the needle from the game yesterday and use it as inspiration for the season ahead.
It’s been the ‘us versus the rest’ mentality that has seen Celtic gain an extra gear or two in big domestic matches under Brendan Rodgers.
With an apparent sustained title challenge for the first time in years, Celtic need to keep their guard up.