Celtic reach Scottish Cup final

Celtic overcame Aberdeen at Hampden to reach the final of the Scottish Cup

Transcript

00:00 Good evening from a sun-kissed Hampden Park in the wake of a tremendous Scottish Cup semi-final

00:08 between Aberdeen and Celtic. I'd say one of the classic last four ties of this esteemed

00:14 competition which Celtic prevailed in on a penalty shootout 6-5 following a three-all draw.

00:21 The holders didn't ride their luck necessarily but it was made extremely difficult for them by

00:27 a dogged, determined and spirited Aberdeen team who never gave up, equalising twice,

00:33 once on 90 minutes and the other on 119 minutes against a Celtic team that many thought would

00:40 sweep the Dons aside with relative ease. It wasn't the case. Aberdeen took the lead early

00:44 through Bojan Majovski, his third goal against Celtic this season. And looked quite comfortable

00:50 up until defender Angus McDonald, who was standing captain, making a mistake and then

00:54 allowed Celtic to equalise through Nicola Kuhn. In the second half Celtic probably had their best

00:59 period of the match and James Forrest got the goal on 63 minutes, just two minutes after he'd

01:04 come on as a sub. He played a pivotal part in this match but it was the other end that Aberdeen got

01:10 their reward. Celtic just couldn't see the game out. Liam Scales and Cameron Carter-Vickers far

01:15 from impressive and in the end Aberdeen got their leveller right on the full, well not the full

01:20 time, which went right at the end of regulation time. That came through Esther Sockler, a nice

01:26 header from a junior, Hoylet Cross. Extra time was just as entertaining to be honest. Matt O'Reilly

01:32 scored a good goal to put Celtic 3-2 ahead but Aberdeen were never defeated and they got their

01:38 goal at the end. McDonald, who atoned for his mistake earlier in the game, rising high to head

01:44 home a cross from Hoylet who was impressive. In fact both substitute wingers for each team were

01:49 impressive. Hoylet and then Forrest who reminded us just what an important player he can still be

01:54 for Celtic. The penalty shootout was pretty dramatic too. Joe Hart was the player on everyone's lips

02:01 afterwards. He took the fifth penalty for Celtic. Had he scored it he would have won the match for

02:07 Celtic there and then but he hit the post and went on to save Killian Phillips' penalty in

02:12 sudden death and he was the hero. His last game of professional football will be back here in the

02:18 final on May 25th. Who will they play? Well we'll find out tomorrow. It's Rages Against Hearts.

02:23 That match will do well to hold a candle to what we were served up here. Celtic are in the

02:28 Scottish Cup final after winning 600 penalties following a 3-0 draw.