There are bound to be some nerves ahead of Celtic’s Scottish Cup final against Hearts but one Celtic star seems excited by the idea of a Quadruple Treble.
It’s quite normal to be a Celtic fan and seeing the team getting ready for a cup final, especially with the treble trebles already in the bag. It’s quite unusual though to be preparing for a Scottish Cup final in December. And especially when it’s to finish off last season.
Sunday sees the 2020 Scottish cup final at Hampden with Celtic playing Hearts. As we all know it’s the delayed final from May 2020 which was deferred to December when the football season was curtailed earlier this year due to the global pandemic.
And also oddly, it’s almost gone under the radar in terms of the enormity of a Celtic win on Sunday. Not in terms of recent form, not as a cup final in itself but the fact that a win would seal an unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated fourth straight treble.
Their rough form of late may add a bit more angst and concern for Hoops fans ahead of the match. But even if the team were flying high, St Mirren’s marvellous result against the Rangers in midweek shows you can take nothing for granted these days.
The squad also see it as an unusual situation but one they are well prepared and ready for. The club’s official site were talking with Callum McGregor this week about the upcoming final. He confirmed the team were hungry and ready with excellent past experience to bring to the situation:
"“We’ve had to wait a while for it so that makes us hungrier to finish off in a good way.“We’ve been in this situation before.“We did the double and treble treble which had never been done. With those achievements it makes you a lot calmer in the build-up, it gives you that hunger to succeed and to have that history behind you makes you hungrier for success.“There’s pressure when you go into every game with Celtic, having had those experiences before certainly stands you in good stead. Especially in the build-up for having those experiences.“It’s a massive opportunity to make history. When you’re a young kid aspiring to be a footballer, these are the situations you want to be in. It takes an incredible amount of dedication and hard work. We have to treat it like every other game. We’ve trained well this week and everyone’s more excited than nervous.”"
The wins over Lille and Kilmarnock have helped rebuild the confidence of the Hoops players, though Hearts will remain tough opponents. The team Neil Lennon will select to start could be critical given it was the introduction of the likes of David Turnbull, Ismaila Soro and Conor Hazard which helped trigger those last two wins. Will he stick to what has worked on Sunday as well? Let’s hope so.