Celtic eased aside Aberdeen to lift the Scottish League Cup for the 16th time and secure their 100th major trophy – the first of the Brendan Rodgers era.<\/p>\n
Tom Rogic’s precise drive into the far corner – his third against the Dons this season – gave the Premiership leaders a 16th-minute lead at Hampden.<\/p>\n
Fellow midfielder James Forrest extended it with an almost identical strike eight minutes before the break.<\/p>\n
The Dons threatened only briefly before Moussa Dembele’s second-half penalty.<\/p>\n
Celtic had shown no ill-effects from their midweek Champions League defeat by Barcelona as they remained unbeaten domestically this season and secured a 10th straight win outwith their European ventures.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen’s fourth defeat in a row by their opponents – their third this season – denied Derek McInnes his second League Cup triumph as the Pittodrie side’s manager.<\/p>\n
Celtic were looking dangerous even before they scored, Dembele’s header forcing a save from Joe Lewis.<\/p>\n
It was Rogic who unlocked this final though. Having scored in Celtic’s 4-1 win over the Dons earlier in the season at Pittodrie and also scoring the winner in the 1-0 victory at Parkhead, the Australian delivered once more.<\/p>\n
It had much to do with Aberdeen’s incredible inability to deny Celtic space. It was a curse that blighted them all day. They were easy meat far too often.<\/p>\n
For the opener, Jozo Simunovic stepped forward into attack, slid a pass to Rogic, who had time to take a look, take aim and fire past goalkeeper Joe Lewis.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Teams tend to live off scraps against Celtic in domestic competition, so when an opponent gets a chance, they’d better take it. Aberdeen didn’t.<\/p>\n
Trailing 1-0, Andrew Considine had a close-range header that he had to score from. Instead, he directed his effort too close to Craig Gordon and the goalkeeper beat it away.<\/p>\n
Celtic kicked-on, owning large amounts of possession and threatening to exploit all the freedom Aberdeen were giving them. Scott Brown had the run of midfield, Rogic was excellent, Forrest was lively.<\/p>\n
It was the winger who doubled the lead and again it was a catastrophe for underdogs.<\/p>\n
The goal had its origins deep inside Celtic’s own half, near their right-hand corner. When Forrest took possession, he was still inside the centre-circle.<\/p>\n
He ran and ran. Aberdeen had enough bodies to deal with him but none of them took any kind of responsibility, as if transfixed by his on-coming presence.<\/p>\n
Forrest got close enough to goal and whipped his shot across Lewis and into the corner of his net. A gorgeous finish.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Souce: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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