With the Scottish Cup and league trophies already in the case. With just about every modern day record smashed. It all comes down to this — the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen.
Celtic have but one quest on a season that has become known as the #inVIncibles. Lifting the Scottish Cup trophy will give Celtic a domestic treble and a completely unbeaten season in domestic football.
But, Aberdeen, who finished second in the Scottish Premiership (a full 30 points behind Celtic), stand in the way.
One thing has been clear since the Hoops clinched the league with over a month to go, Brendan Rodgers’ biggest focus was to be on this game. He instilled that in his players, even getting star right winger Patrick Roberts to skip the U-20 World Cup for England to play in this final.
So, how will Rodgers set up his squad? One should be able to expect the regular names to be in the mix. After all, there was plenty of squad rotation done in the past three weeks to try and keep this squad fresh for this very moment.
Let’s look at the lineups as Rodgers and Co. take on the Dons.
Celtic Starting XI:
Aberdeen Starting:
Analysis:
Rodgers has been saying for the past month or so that the focus of his squad was on this cup final and a domestic treble. His squad rotation hinted at that and certainly the Starting XI he has put out today is just that.
Some may say the pressure to be #inVIncible will get to Celtic, but that’s something the players clearly aren’t worried about. As Dedryk Boyata put it:
"“The treble is a big word. Invincible was another big word,” Boyata said. “The treble is another thing that we’re trying to achieve. It will be hard, we will feel pressure. We need 100% focus, we know it’s going to be a big achievement if we manage to win this game and we all just want to finish it. It will be very sad and hard if we don’t finish on a high. For anybody who’s been in the position where everything is well and then the last second you lose a game, you don’t feel good. The cup is very important, but it is for Aberdeen as well so it will be a hard game. We’re going to be ready to give everything because it’s the last game as well. We know we won’t have any more chances after that, so there’s no time for mistakes. It’s the last game of the season.”"
As for the lineup?
There’s the regular back four of Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic, Boyata and Kieran Tierney. The middle of the park sees stalwart captain Scott Brown pairing up with Callum McGregor, meanwhile attacking the goal are Scott Sinclair, Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts.
Up top, sure, one would’ve loved to have seen Moussa Dembele finish off an incredible season. But, Leigh Griffiths has been in his old magical form for the past month as well and gets the start.
However, Dembele is featured on the bench and perhaps will see the field to get a proper send-off to an amazing season by the young French international.
The Dons counter with its strongest lineup possible without Celtic-loanee Ryan Christie in the mix. That will likely hurt them, as Christie has been a goal-scoring machine for Aberdeen since his arrival in the second half of the season. Obviously playing against his parent club was never going to happen, but his goals are going to be missed by the Dons for sure.
Celtic have taken Aberdeen’s best shot more than once, and the last shot was a dangerous one.
No doubt the Bhoys will be taking their game to another level in the hopes of becoming one of the greatest sides in Celtic history.