Celtic prevailed dramatically against Aberdeen on penalties in the Scottish Cup semi-final yesterday to book their place in the final.
In a fixture that kept giving, Bojan Miovski raced through to score the opener for the hosts before Nicolas Kuhn capitalised from a blocked Kyogo Furuhashi strike to slot into an unguarded goal.
Despite inheriting the lead through James Forrest’s drive and finish, Celtic were pegged back minutes from full-time by Ester Sokler, who evaded attention to head home from a deep cross courtesy of Junior Hoilett.
Brendan Rodgers’ men entered extra-time in search of a winner, and Matt O’Riley looked to give the Bhoys a route to victory after he took in Alistair Johnston’s cutback before slamming into the top left-hand corner, sending a sea of green and white at Hampden into raptures.
Nevertheless, Angus MacDonald forced the issue in the 119th minute to take the game to penalties, where Joe Hart became the hero for Celtic despite missing his opportunity to send his side through to the final.
Adam Idah, Luis Palma, Paulo Bernardo, O’Riley, Alistair Johnston, and Tomoki Iwata all slotted away comfortably, though Hart was to have the final say, saving from Aberdeen loanee Killian Phillips to write another chapter in his rollercoaster farewell tour.
All is well that ends well, and Celtic will now await the outcome of Heart of Midlothian vs Rangers later today in the other Scottish Cup semi-final before the scramble for final briefs gets underway.
Paulo Bernardo’s Instagram post after Celtic Scottish Cup drama
Portugal Under-21 international Bernardo squeezed his penalty into the corner past Kelle Roos despite the opposition goalkeeper getting considerable contact on the ball before seemingly injuring himself in the aftermath.
On the flip side, Celtic fans won’t care a jot, and Bernardo’s bravery to step forward was vindicated as he converted an important spot-kick that played a major role in the Bhoys booking their return to Hampden for the final.
Now, he has taken to social media platform Instagram to share his jubilation as the Bhoys ensured their efforts weren’t in vain.
He stated in a post depicting himself and teammate O’Riley celebrating: ‘Tough game today but we did it! Can’t thank enough for all the support we’ve received (heart emoji and four-leaf clover emoji) See you at the final (pray emoji followed by muscle emoji).
Celtic had to call on every ounce of their resilience to see through their triumph over Aberdeen, which had its fair share of stress attached for supporters in attendance.
Despite this, we achieved what we set out to do, serving up an all-time cup classic on the way to yet another showpiece final that will take place on May 25th.