Celtic v Kilmarnock 14/1/2023
A jubilant Hampden awaits as both sides make it nearly impossible to hear a thing as the game starts in a fully packed Hampden. Celtic looked to make it 2 cup finals in 2 years however a Kilmarnock side stood in their way and a familiar face in Kyle Lafferty returned to the Kilmarnock line-up. However after the domestic form being tremendous for Celtic with 21 wins in 23 games this season they would be big favourites to get through to the final on the 26th February.
Celtic Line-up Kilmarnock Line-up
Hart Walker
Juranovic Mayo
Carter-Vickers Taylor
Starfelt Wright
Bernabei Armstrong
Mooy Donnelly
McGregor (c) Power (c)
Hatate McKenzie
Jota Chrisene
Furuhashi Lafferty
Maeda Vassell
Subs: Abada-Jota 73 mins Doidge-Lafferty 46 mins
O'Reilly-Hatate 73 min Polworth-Donnelly 46 mins
Giakoumakis-Furuhashi 74 mins Robinson-Vassell 73 mins
Forrest-Maeda 81 mins Alebiosu-Mayo 87 mins
Turnbull-Mooy 93 mins Jones-McKenzie 87 mins
Kick-Off:
Straight from Kick-off it was Kilmarnock who would have the first chance of the game as poor start from Celtic, gifting Kilmarnock the ball would lead to a counter attack in the first minuet of play where Armstrong would dribble forward before crossing for Vassell where he would slide in and just miss the ball.
Kilmarnock would continue the early dominance for the first 8 mins creating chances as McKenzie would have a well driven shot at the edge of Celtic's box saved and a lot of chances coming down the left hand side for Kilmarnock as Armstrong was starting to become a problem for Bernabei to deal with.
Kilmarnock would continue making it hard for Celtic to get into the game.
In the 9th min Celtic would however come in to a rhythm as Celtic themselves would create chances of their own with good work coming down the right hand side with Jota and Juranovic linking up and creating chances and Maeda creating chances also swinging crosses in from the left but no real menacing chance would come off the crosses delivered.
In the 19th minuet Celtic would however make it 1-0 with a free kick on the right hand side of Kilmarnock's box where Mooy floated in a great cross and was met back post by Maeda to make it 1-0 with a slight flick on.
The last real chance of the half would come a minuet after the goal with Kilmarnock winning a free kick, Power crossing into the box and being met by Wright, however being denied by a Hart save to keep it 1-0.
Both sides would continue to make chances but nothing clear cut.
There would be 3 mins added of additional time in the first half.
Half-Time
Second-Half:
Just before Kilmarnock would kick off they would bring Lafferty and Donnelly off and bring on Polworth and Doidge.
In the 50th minuet Celtic would have the ball in the net again through a great run and ball from Mooy into Jurnaovic who would shoot and his deflected shot would come off Taylor for Kilmarnock before bouncing to Hatate to score however it would be ruled out due to Hatate being offside for the goal.
Celtic would continue the pressure and would have the ball in the net once more with Kyogo playing a great ball through to Maeda who finished well putting it top corner, however it would be ruled out for a slight offside call on Kyogo and would rule out Celtic's second in the 62nd min.
In the 67th minuet Kilmarnock would come close with a good cross whipped back post to Armstrong who would put the ball into the side netting and keeping it 1-0.
In the 73rd min would see Celtic bring on Abada, Giakoumakis and O'Reilly for Jota, Hatate and Kyogo
And would see a change for Kilmarnock seeing Robinson on for Vassell.
Kilmarnock would pressure for the equaliser working Hart with a good shot in the 76th minuet.
81st min would see Celtic bring on Forrest for Maeda.
88th min would see Kilmarnock use their last sub on brining on Alebiosu and Jones for McKenzie and Mayo.
There would be 6 mins of added time.
Celtic final sub would be Turnbull on for Mooy in the 92nd min.
A min later Kilmarnock would have a huge penalty appeal with Giakoumakis looking to come and tackling Wright from behind in the Celtic box and huge shouts from Kilmarnock's supporters and bench appealing for a foul on the Kilmarnock defender. Them claims would be pushed aside from Collum however with no check of VAR TV being used in the shout either.
Armstrong who had been in a rough battle with Bernabei all afternoon would receive a booking for a foul on a progressing Bernabei when running towards the Killie box before being brought down in the 94 min.
Celtic would get their second as Giakoumakis would score after a Turnbull shot would be well saved but palmed into Giakoumakis's feet and placed in an empty net to make it 2-0 and surely end the game.
Full-Time: Celtic 2-0 Kilmarnock
With this win this means Celtic's dominant domestic run goes on making it 22 wins from 24 games since the start of the new campaign. With rumours heating up over Giakoumakis's future questions are being asked if this will be the last time we see him in a Celtic jersey and if this is his farewell send-off for Celtic. The question is now who will Celtic face in the final we found out tomorrow as Aberdeen and Rangers face off at 3:30pm in the other semi-final. However Celtic have made it 6/7 league cup final appearances in the last 7 years. Can they make it 6/6 wins on February 26th?
Comments