Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart set himself up for a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final farewell – despite missing a penalty in a shoot-out in a Hampden classic against Aberdeen.
Hart hit the post with Celtic’s fifth penalty following a thrilling 3-3 draw with the Dons but the victory was only delayed. The 36-year-old saved from Killian Phillips to ensure a 6-5 shoot-out win and a final date on May 25 against Rangers or Hearts ahead of his impending retirement.
It was a semi-final that had just about everything. Celtic recovered from Bojan Miovski’s early goal to led through goals from Nicolas Kuhn and substitute James Forrest, but substitute Ester Sokler headed home at the back post in the 90th minute.
Matt O’Riley fired Celtic ahead in extra-time but stand-in Dons captain Angus MacDonald atoned for the massive blunder that led to Celtic’s equaliser when he headed home in the 119th minute.
The shoot-out somehow surpassed the drama of the actual game as Hart took centre stage.
Brendan Rodgers has enjoyed far more straightforward afternoons at Hampden but still earned a perfect 10th victory at the national stadium in his first game here since the League Cup final in December 2018.
The Dons stunned the favourites two minutes in. Leighton Clarkson played a perfect pass inside Cameron Carter-Vickers to get Miovski in behind and the North Macedonia striker beat Hart to claim his 24th goal of the campaign.
Celtic created two half-chances to equalise but Yang Hyun-jun headed over and Kelle Roos stood up to parry Kyogo Furuhashi’s effort.
Aberdeen were otherwise keeping Celtic at bay until MacDonald took a poor second touch on the ball midway inside his half in the 21st minute. Furuhashi to raced away before his effort was blocked by Stefan Gartenmann, but the ball fell kindly for Kuhn, who rolled it past a stranded Roos.
Aberdeen had the best opportunity to take an interval lead but Hart saved from Gartenmann and Celtic had a let-off in the closing stages of the half when Scales handled just outside the box, according to a VAR check.
Rodgers made his first changes in the 62nd minute, Callum McGregor replaced by Tomoki Iwata and Yang making way for Forrest. The 32-year-old had a shot blocked even before netting 90 seconds after coming on.
The winger dropped the shoulder to cut inside his man before curling a perfect shot just inside the far post from 23 yards. It was his ninth goal in the latter stages of cup competitions.
Forrest forced Roos into a diving save but the game changed with the introduction of a second Aberdeen striker, Sokler, in the 79th minute.
Aerial balls led to two excellent chances for another substitute, Junior Hoilett, but a poor first touch saw him miss the first and Carter-Vickers blocked on the line from the second opportunity.
Scales headed over from six yards and Celtic paid the price for a poor pass forward from substitute Luis Palma. The ball was worked to Hoilett, who crossed to the back post for Sokler to head home.
Sokler stabbed wide in the opening moments of extra-time, although he would possibly have been called offside if it had gone to VAR, and Celtic got back on top before taking the lead in stoppage-time of the first period.
Forrest threaded a pass that allowed Alistair Johnston to run in behind and cut back for O’Riley, who found the top corner from eight yards.
The drama continued. Adam Idah had a headed goal disallowed for offside before failing to turn O’Riley’s square ball home.
Celtic survived another VAR penalty check after Carter-Vickers caught Hoilett, the video officials backing referee Don Robertson’s view that the Aberdeen winger had committed a foul on Johnston seconds beforehand.
Sokler missed from close range before MacDonald headed home in a near carbon copy of Sokler’s equaliser to spark wild celebrations on the trackside between players and fans.
Even the shoot-out had some outrageous twists. The first seven penalties were scored before Roos went down with apparent cramp and needed treatment. Ryan Duncan hit the post after the long delay.
The Celtic fans got a shock when Hart stepped up to take the penalty that would have sent Celtic into the final. The goalkeeper also hit the post.
Hoilett netted to send the tie into sudden death but Hart had the final say.
Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo
Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.
Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.
Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.
Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.
“We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.
“After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.
“And I think maybe the manager [Slot] also knew this. At the beginning of the season, he put him in a slightly different position, but he gave him the confidence to play there.
“Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.
“I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”
Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.
The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.
However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.
"I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.
"I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.
"People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.
“I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Mateus Fernandes
Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.
In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one shy of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 games with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in 11 Premier League appearances against Southampton.
He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new head coach Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).
The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.
Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home victory in January 2021.
This will also be the first Premier League match between the side starting the day bottom of the table and the side starting the day top since April 2023, and Southampton’s 3-3 draw away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such matches (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.
However, Southampton have only lost one of their last eight Premier League home games against sides starting the day at the summit (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Man City in May 2018.
But Martin’s side have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven sides in English top-flight history have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer matches from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 9.7%
Draw – 12.6%
Liverpool – 77.7%
Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory
Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his Manchester City players handled the atmosphere against Hammarby to secure their passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Khadija Shaw opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Ellen Wangerheim restored parity shortly after the interval with a finish from close range.
But Shaw continued her fine start to the campaign, scoring the winner to become City's all-time top scorer in the competition, surpassing Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie (both six).
The result saw City make it to the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2021, though the encounter was far from comfortable at the Tele2 Arena on Thursday.
Hammarby ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.15 compared to the visitors' 1.07, despite both sides having 14 shots throughout the match.
However, City maintained their unbeaten record against Swedish sides in the competitor (W6), and Taylor was proud of his side's "gritty" display in Stockholm.
“I’m really pleased. It was about qualification for us tonight," Taylor said.
"There were a couple of ways we could do it. Obviously, we knew a point was enough, but I don’t think the players were thinking that way.
“It was a really gritty performance on a really difficult on this pitch. It probably doesn’t look like that for the viewers at home watching it.
"But it was a really lively surface and we worked so hard.
“I felt there were some areas we could control the play better. I have to give credit to Hammarby, they were really aggressive.
"The referee was on our side a little bit in the first half and maybe not in the second.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the players, they really dug in tonight. You come away from a hostile environment with a win.”
Serie A side Genoa confirm sacking of head coach Gilardino
Serie A side Genoa have confirmed the departure of their head coach Alberto Gilardino, with Patrick Vieira reportedly on his way in.
Gilardino, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, leaves the club with them sitting just one point above the relegation size with 10 points from 12 matches this season.
A former striker who played for clubs including Genoa, Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, Gilardino took charge of Genoa in 2022 and helped them earn promotion to the top division before a 11th-place finish during the 2023-24 season.
"The club thanks Gilardino for the goals achieved together over the years and wishes him the best for his career," Genoa said in a statement.
The 42-year-old saw his side salvage a late 1-1 draw against Cesc Fabregas' Como in their last match before the international break.
Genoa were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the second round following a defeat to Sampdoria on penalties in September.
Arsenal legend Vieira is set to replace him, according to multiple reports.
The former France midfielder has been out of work since leaving Strasbourg by mutual consent in July.
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