A satisfied Celtic captain Scott Brown insisted yesterday's 2-0 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final victory against Rangers proves beyond doubt that the Ibrox side don't have the energy or quality to live with them.
Having won four and drawn one of their five meetings against their great rivals - with one more to follow on league duty at Ibrox next Saturday - the Parkhead stand six matches away from the first unbeaten domestic season since 1899, and only the fourth treble in the club's history.
Brown, who was only eligible to play in the match following a controversial appeal over a red card in Dingwall last week, left the national stadium clutching the man of the match champagne and said he knew Celtic would book their final place against Aberdeen as long as they turned up.
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Celtic were brilliant in triumph over Rangers - but we can perform better
“We enjoyed that and played really well," said Brown. "It was a really professional performance from start to finish. We knew if we’d turn up we’d win the game – and we did that. We knew they were going to sit deep and couldn’t press us, they don’t have the legs that we’ve got or the quality. We knew if we turned up, then we’re the best team in Scotland and we showed that again today.
“The semi-final last year we were disappointed," he added. "It was the worst we could ever play, the best they could ever play. And they got lucky on penalties."
With his appeal finally set to be held on Thursday, it remains unclear whether Brown will be able to take his place at Ibrox this Saturday, but he is adamant that the club have enough firepower to go there and win without him, and striker Moussa Dembele, who injured a hamstring yesterday afternoon.
“It is always going to be different going to Ibrox," said Brown. "They’ve got to come out and try and press and create chances, especially with being at home. But they’re going to be scared with the pace we’ve got on the counter attack."
Read more: Brendan Rodgers: Celtic were brilliant in triumph over Rangers - but we can perform better
While Scott Sinclair converted a clinching penalty at the same end where Celtic lost last year's shoot-out - “I wanted to redeem myself because the last pen I took was in the league and I missed," he said - an unlikely star turn was Callum McGregor, who steered in a fine opening goal on 11 minutes. Brown lavished praise on his midfield colleague and said he could join both he and Stuart Armstrong in the Scotland squad for the meeting with England at Hampden on June 10.
“Callum’s an unsung hero, but not within the squad," said Brown. "What a finish from him at the first goal! He used the man really well and played it around him. I don’t see why Callum can’t be involved for the England game, look at the way he’s playing just now. He’s in fantastic form."
With Dembele likely to sidelined for a fortnight at least, opportunity knocks for Leigh Griffiths to fire in the goals which could take Celtic's class of 2017 to a unique place in history. “We’ve got no worries about Leigh coming in," said Brown. "We all know what he can do. He scored 40 goals last season. He’s been a little bit unlucky with injuries this season - when Moussa’s been injured, he’s been injured. He’s been waiting for his opportunity. But it would appear he’s going to get game time now and he can show everybody what he can do."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel