Celtic’s League Cup Final story – Kyogo could make history

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The Celtic Star

·14 December 2024

Celtic’s League Cup Final story – Kyogo could make history

When Celtic take the field at Hampden Park tomorrow, it will be the Bhoys’ 37th League Cup Final…

Premier Sports Cup semi-final, Celtic against Aberdeen. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Celtic has won 21 League Cup Finals

To date, Celtic have won 21 of these matches, whilst losing out on 15 occasions. Celtic’s most recent success came in 2023; their last final defeat was in 2012.

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The first League Cup Final took place in 1947, but it took nine years for Celtic to reach this stage. In 1956, the Hoops claimed victory after a replay, winning 3-0 against Partick Thistle.

Bobby Collins in action during Celtic’s first ever League Cup Final victory against Partick Thistle in October 1956. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Since then, Celtic’s record in this competition has been mixed. The Bhoys’ current record of seven consecutive victories in finals reached is the best they have ever achieved.

Terrible run of bad luck in most finals between 1971-1991

It’s not always a competition that has brought happy news to Celtic. Between 1970-71 and 1990-91, Celtic appeared in 13 finals, losing all but two of these matches, including four-in-a-row defeats between 1970-71 and 1973-74.

This included famous losses such as 4-1 to Partick Thistle, or being beaten 1-0 by a Dundee side including Lisbon legend Tommy Gemmell.

In total, Celtic have faced 12 different opponents in the League Cup’s most important match, including both Ibrox sides. St Johnstone, Motherwell, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers have been the Bhoys’ opponents on one occasion; Raith Rovers remain the only club Celtic have not beaten when playing in a League Cup Final.

On two occasions, Glasgow’s green-and-white men have met Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock, Dundee, Dundee United and the new Rangers. Dundee United and the 2012 version of Rangers have been beaten twice whilst it’s been a win and a defeat for Celtic in the other games.

Hibs and Aberdeen have both faced Celtic on four occasions in the final. For both teams, the record reads three Celtic wins and one defeat. Hibs matches have been especially high scoring, with Celtic twice grabbing six goals.

However – perhaps unsurprisingly – the Celts’ most common final opponent has been the original Rangers. 14 times Celtic lined up against the 1872 Ibrox side in the League Cup Final. Celtic won on five occasions but lost out nine times.

The most famous victory of them all

Of course, the Bhoys’ first victory in these matches remains the club’s most famous domestic cup triumph.

In October 1957, both sides lined up at Hampden Park in pursuit of the League Cup. Celtic were holders, having won it for the first time the previous year.

Few people that turned up that glorious day could have foreseen what would happen. When the full-time whistle went, seven times the Rangers goal had been breached, creating what remains a British record cup final score of 7-1.

Celtic 7-1 Rangers, 19 October 1957. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Some very high-scoring matches

Some of Celtic’s final appearances have seen very high-scoring matches. On three occasions there have been at least eight goals involved these games – 1957, 1967 and 1969 – whilst in 1974 Celtic and Hibs shared nine goals. Happily, the Bhoys claimed the trophy in all of these matches.

Other final wins have been especially important moments in Celtic’s history. Victory in 1966 against Rangers set the Bhoys on the road to their first ever Treble – and victory in Lisbon in 1967. Equally, beating Dundee United in the 1997 final was a springboard to winning Celtic’s first League title in a decade, and stopping Rangers’ ten-in-a-row efforts.

Celtic 3-0 Dundee Utd, 30 November 1997, League Cup Final played at Ibrox. Photo The Celtic Wiki

And of course, victory in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 helped Celtic to a record-breaking quadruple Treble run.

Across all of Celtic’s finals, there have been 72 Celtic goals scored, with 42 conceded.

To date, players from 12 different nationalities have found the net for Celtic in the final. Obviously the most common one is Scottish, however there have also been goals from 11 other countries too. The first non-Scot to score for Celtic in a League Cup Final came from Iceland – ‘Shuggy’ Edvaldsson scored as Celtic lost the 1977 final to Rangers.

Johannes Edvaldsson scored for Celtic in the League Cup Final in season 1977/78. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Kyogo can make history tomorrow

In recent times, the most important nation for Celtic in these finals has been Japan. Kyogo Furahashi has scored both goals as Celtic have won 2-1 in their past two cup finals, beating Hibs and the new Rangers.

In addition to these countries, Celtic final scorers have also come from England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Wales, Australia and France.

All that matters on Sunday is a victory. However it could also see a new nationality added to the list, if goals were to come from players such as Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers or Auston Trusty.

Celtic’s hat-trick heroes

Some Hoops men have even been fortunate to get a League Cup Final hat-trick. Billy McPhail was the first to do so, in the 1957 final. Since then Bobby Lennox in 1969, Dixie Deans in 1974 and Henrik Larsson in 2001 have repeated this feat. McPhail, Lennox and Larsson are Celtic’s top final scorers, each having five goals.

In addition to this, Kenny Dalglish and James Forrest join Lennox and Larsson in having scored in three different finals.

Sunday could actually see various Celtic records broken, if certain players are on the scoresheet.

If Kyogo gets one goal, he would join Larsson and Lennox on five goals, and would also have now scored in three finals. Equally, if he continues his pattern of scoring two goals in each League Cup Final, he would become the Bhoys’ top scorer.

James Forrest can make history too

On the other hand, a James Forrest celebration would bring him two records.

James Forrest and Moussa Dembele with the trophyl after Celtic’s League Cup Final win over Motherwell at Hampden on 26 November 2017. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Not only would this mean he had now got a goal in four finals – the most of any Celtic player – it would also mean that he had now scored for Celtic in 16 consecutive seasons, moving him joint third in the Celts’ all-time list.

Whilst the original Rangers team may have won most finals versus Celtic, there are much more upbeat facts.

Despite the Light Blues better win record, Celtic scored 24 times in such games, with only 20 conceded in return.

And of course, the last time that Celtic met a Rangers team in the League Cup Final, it ended with green-and-white ribbons on the trophy.

Kyogo with the League Cup after defeating theRangers in the Final, February 2023. Photo Kenny Ramsay

As long as this statement remains true by the end of this weekend, it will be a beautiful Sunday all round.

C’mon Celtic!

Matthew Marr

If you want to learn more about Celtic history, follow Hail Hail History on Twitter/X. You can also take part in a FREE Celtic history walking tour. Visit celticwalkingtours.wordpress.com for more details.

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