The Scottish Cup Final against Inverness Caley Thistle, on paper, tells you the trophy should be heading to Celtic Park this Saturday afternoon.
But, as we all know, football isn’t played on paper and Celtic cannot take our opponents lightly. Inverness Caley have been a thorn in Celtic’s side in the Scottish Cup in recent years and Ange Postecoglou has already stated that the team will need to be at their best to defeat them this weekend.
Celtic’s form leading up to Trophy Day wasn’t our blistering best, but after the 5-0 rout of Aberdeen, former Celtic defender, John Hughes believes the Parkhead side was sending out a warning to their Scottish Cup opponents.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound, Hughes said, “Celtic have still got the foot on the accelerator. You seen it on Saturday when they played against Aberdeen. Everyone was saying to me, ‘Do you think Celtic’s come off it?’
“I said, ‘You wait to see them against Aberdeen. It will be a dress rehearsal for the cup final.’ And that was the case.
“It’s probably put a warning up to Inverness that, ‘If you feel we have come off it a little bit then, watch this.’ It sends a message then to Inverness that if they can do that to the team that’s finished third in the SPFL, then you know what’s coming.
“So I think it was a message to Inverness. Listen, there have been six trophies up for grabs in Scotland, Ange will want to have won five of them. He’ll be wanting to make sure he gets a treble on Saturday, as well as all the players.
“So it’s going to be a hard ask for Inverness. A real hard ask.”
There is no doubt that Inverness face a tough challenge if they have aspirations of lifting the Scottish Cup again. Caley Thistle lifted the trophy in a 2-1 win against Falkirk back in 2015.
Celtic will be a much tougher opponent but we will go into this game giving the Scottish Championship side the respect they deserve.
You need a bit of luck to reach a cup final, but you still have to be a good side that is hard to beat. And that is what Inverness have been to Celtic in this competition.
Celtic will be laser-focused in bringing the Treble home but they will take nothing for granted this Saturday and will seek to do a professional job and send the fans home happy.
In other news, Newcastle United and two other EPL clubs are ‘watching’ Celtic youth star
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
