Celtic will be looking to win the first of three trophies in a bid for their first treble since 2001 with a win in the Scottish League Cup Final against Dundee United. Unbelievably, this will be the second time in two weekends the two sides have met with their next two fixtures against each other too.
Last weekend saw a scrappy encounter where three players got sent off in a 1-1 draw in the Scottish Cup, forcing a replay to be played on Wednesday night at Celtic Park. In the tenth minute Virgil van Dijk and Paul Paton both received red cards for fighting, but both will have a chance of winning silverware tomorrow after winning appeals from the Scottish FA. The Tangerines took the lead through a Nadir Ciftci penalty on the stroke of half time but will find themselves without their leading scorer for the final after he picked up two yellow cards earlier in the competition. Early on in the second half, Celtic found themselves in a great position to take the lead after Paul Dixon handballed on the line and was sent off as a consequence. But Leigh Griffiths couldn’t beat Cierzniak from the penalty spot and the scores stayed the same until the 70th minute where he made amends by heading home to rescue a replay for his team.
Having found themselves with nine men for much of the game against the Scottish Champions and today’s familiar opponents, Dundee United will be in confident mood to pull off a Cup upset, even if ex-Celtic captain and now Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara admits “it would be a massive upset”.
However his midfielder Charlie Telfer has told the press how he believes his team can win the cup with two extra men on the field this time round. Celtic boss Ronny Deila is desperate to win his first trophy in his debut season and tells of how his one and only cup final loss was perhaps the “worst thing” he’s done. The match will also be the ever-present Nir Biton’s first final in his competitive career and he explains that his team needs to have a good mentality. The Israeli says “everyone expects us to win but anything is possible in 90 minutes; especially after last Sunday”.
Expected line ups:
Celtic XI: Gordon, Ambrose, Denayer, van Dijk, Izaguirre, Brown, Biton, Commons, Johansen, Stokes, Griffiths
Dundee United XI: Cierzniak, McGowan, Dillon, Fojut, Dixon, Paton, Butcher, Telfer, Dow, Bilate, Connolly
Regular first team players Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong will be unavailable to play their former club due to being cup-tied. Nir Bitton also faces late fitness tests after picking up an ankle injury. The final will come too soon for Charlie Mulgrew and Mikael Lustig who are both returning to fitness but Kris Commons should return to the side. With Ciftci out, Mario Bilate could make a start. Semi-final goal scorer Callum Morris also returns from injury for Dundee United and will at least start on the bench for his side.
The last time Celtic competed in a Scottish League Cup final was in 2012 where they were shock losers against Kilmarnock. You would have to go back 6 years to see the men in green lift the League Cup, a comfortable 2-0 win over Rangers being enough on the day. Weirdly enough, Dundee United’s last Scottish League Cup win came against their rivals too, although this was way back in 1981. Today’s match is also a replay of the 1998 League Cup Final where Celtic won 3-0; and this outcome doesn’t look too much different.
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