???? Celtic clinch Scottish League Cup after shootout win over Rangers

Celtic successfully defended their Scottish League Cup title by emerging victorious in a penalty shootout against Rangers.

Goals were scored by Raskin, who had an own goal at the 55th minute, followed by Maeda at 60 minutes, and Kühn at 87 minutes. For the other team, Bajrami scored at 41 minutes, Diomande at 75 minutes, and Danilo at 88 minutes.

Nedim Bajrami scored the opening goal for Philippe Clement's team just before the end of the first half at Hampden Park, taking advantage of a misplayed pass from Greg Taylor for a quick and opportunistic finish.

However, Taylor made up for his earlier mistake just ten minutes after the break by scoring with a shot from outside the penalty area, which was unfortunately deflected into his own goal by Nicolas Raskin.

Brendan Rodgers' team, the reigning champions, quickly took the lead thanks to Daizen Maeda, who seized on another mistake by Raskin, this time taking advantage of a poor header meant for Leon Balogun.

The Gers responded aggressively in the last 15 minutes when Mohamed Diomande took a shot while turning, which could have pushed the match into an additional half-hour of extra time.

However, there was still room for surprises as Nicolas Kühn kept his scoring momentum alive, netting a goal in the 87th minute of the match.

Just a minute later, Gers defender Danilo scored a header from Václav Černý's crossing, leveling the match again and ensuring both teams would play for an additional half-hour.

As the teams couldn't be separated after extra time, the match went to a penalty shootout. During this tense moment, Kasper Schmeichel saved a shot from Rıdvan Yılmaz, and then Maeda scored the decisive goal to clinch the win.

The Bhoys have now secured the League Cup for the 22nd time, with manager Brendan Rodgers achieving his fourth title during his two tenures.

???? Justin Setterfield - Getty Images 2024