Scottish Cup final: Celtic eye the treble | OneFootball

Celtic face Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday, May 24th at 3pm GMT / 10am EST. The reigning champions look to secure the trophy for a sixth time in eight seasons.

Celtic cannot be stopped

Scottish soccer has delivered a few surprises this season. Falkirk secured a second straight promotion to seal a place in the Premiership next season. St Johnstone, who won the domestic cup double four years ago, were relegated for the first time in 23 years.

However, there are no surprises when it comes to which team is winning the major trophies. Celtic lifted the Premiership trophy last Saturday after a 1-1 draw with St Mirren. The rare poor performance did not matter, as the title had already been secured weeks ago. In the end, there was a 17 point gap between Celtic and Rangers.

At this stage, a Celtic title win is so unsurprising that perhaps the bigger story was how they managed to progress in Europe. The Bhoys reached the Champions League play-off round and were a minute away from taking Bayern Munich to extra time before conceding a goal scored by Canadian international Alphonso Davies.

Aberdeen have fallen apart

This was supposed to be Aberdeen’s season to do things differently. The Dons were top of the league near the start of the season, creating talks of a title race with Celtic. This came despite the fact star striker Bojan Miovski left the club to join Girona in the transfer window last summer.

Then the League Cup final came along and Celtic put on a show, running riot and accomplishing a 6-0 victory. Aberdeen managed to win their next league game, but this was followed by 14 league matches without a win.

Parting ways with manager Barry Robson did not turn the tide on Aberdeen’s season and due to a 2-1 defeat to Dundee United last Saturday, there will be no European football at Pittodrie next season.

Score prediction

Celtic record a number of one-sided victories during the season, but cup finals are usually less straightforward. The last time Brendan Rodgers’ men won a final by a three goal margin was against Aberdeen, however this was eight years ago. It took a penalty shootout for Celtic to conquer Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup final.

However, Celtic triumphed 5-1 away from home against Aberdeen just over a week ago and Rodgers did not even field a full strength team. It is hard to see anything other than a Celtic win, although the Dons will probably be more stable in defence this time around.

Adam Idah is in fine goalscoring form, while Daizen Maeda has been on fire all season. It also helps when a team has midfielders who chip in with goals and that is true of Celtic. Jota and Reo Hatate are out injured and both players are big losses, but the Hoops will have too much quality for Aberdeen. Treble incoming!

Prediction: Aberdeen 0-2 Celtic

Where to watch

In the U.K., the final will be broadcast live on BBC One Scotland and Premier Sports 2. It will also be streaming for free on BBC iPlayer. In the United States, the Cup is broadcast by ESPN. As always, check local listings for accuracy, or if you’re in a country not covered above.