Dimitar Mitov was the hero as Aberdeen pulled off an almighty shock to defeat Celtic on penalties at Hampden to win the Scottish Cup for the first time since 1990.
For 83 minutes, this was arguably one of the most forgettable finals in many a long year. There was no lack of effort, but there was a severe lack of quality, goalmouth action and drama.
Nevertheless, Celtic looked to be seeing the game out and rather cruising towards a treble thanks to Alfie Dorrington’s first half own goal, but a howler from Kasper Schmeichel seven minutes from time brought Aberdeen level and finally lit the blue touch paper on this final.
Now we had drama, alright. The game swung from end to end, before Celtic seized control once more in extra time. They couldn’t find the winner though as Aberdeen stood firm, and onto penalties it went.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor missed the first spot kick, Mitov diving low to his right to save. Eventually, Alistair Johnston had to score to make Aberdeen hit a final penalty, but he too couldn’t find a way past the brilliant Bulgarian, who sent the Red Army into raptures with another stunning stop.
Here are the talking points from Hampden…
Jimmy Thelin’s gameplan pays off
Given that Aberdeen hadn’t beaten Celtic in the previous 30 meetings going into this one, and had shipped six goals to their opponents the last time they met at Hampden as well as conceding five to them just 10 days ago at Pittodrie, you can hardly blame Thelin for going on the defensive.
The Aberdeen manager said he had learnt from those humblings against Celtic, and that he had formulated an alternative plan for this one to help stem the tide. As it transpired, that meant a deep-lying 5-3-2 formation instead of his usual 4-2-3-1, and it did indeed allow them to frustrate Celtic for large parts of the first half.
The trouble was that for all they gained in a defensive sense, they lost any sort of ability to progress up the pitch, and it seemed a matter of time before a lapse in concentration would allow Celtic to make the breakthrough.
When it arrived as we edged towards the interval, it was rather fitting that it was scrappy in the extreme given the context of what had gone before.
The champions had started to pile up the corners, and eventually something had to give. Arne Engels swung the ball in, and the unfortunate Dorrington – who had been Aberdeen’s best player to that point - saw the ball cannon off his shoulder and in off the far post.
But fair play to the Dons, and to Thelin. They hung in there waiting for their one chance, or more accurately, the one mistake that would give them a lifeline. And what a mistake it was when it arrived.
Tale of two keepers as Schmeichel bungles
The Dane has been just about faultless for Celtic this season – though he has attracted some controversial criticism from his homeland for his performances for his national side – but he picked the worst possible time to throw in a horrendous rick to give Aberdeen an unlikely leveller.
With the clock ticking towards time up, Aberdeen advanced up the right, and in fairness to substitute Shayden Morris, he did put a teasing delivery into the six-yard box.
A goalkeeper of Schmeichel’s experience and quality should have dealt with it though, but instead, he succeeded only in flapping it behind him and into the net, sparking dropped jaws in the Celtic end and scenes of absolute mayhem behind his goal, with a sea of red spilling onto the track and the pitch in their delirium.
Mitov, by contrast, would soon earn his place in Pittodrie folklore…
More than just penalty saves from magic Mitov
The focus will understandably be on the spot kick stops from Mitov in the years to come, but what cannot be underestimated either was his contribution right at the end of stoppage time after the 90 minutes.
As a Paulo Bernardo tackle in midfield broke for Daizen Maeda and the Japanese striker bore in on goal, the Aberdeen fans hearts must have sank. Time seemed to stand still, but as Maeda pulled the trigger, Mitov was upon him, and he managed to smother his effort to take the game to extra time.
He would go on to have the final say too, of course, and no one deserved it more than him.
Harsh on Callum McGregor, but Celtic skipper will bounce back
When the toss was won by Celtic and McGregor picked the end where his fans were located to host the shootout, there was never any doubt that he would be stepping up to hit the first penalty. The only surprise was that he didn’t score it.
McGregor has had so much success in a Celtic jersey, and particularly here at Hampden, but he was visibly in bits at the end of this one. No doubt, given his previous history, it will only fuel the fire to come back next season and do it all over again.
Rodgers misses out on his place in Celtic history, but this was all about Aberdeen
Rodgers was contesting his 15th match at Hampden as Celtic manager and prior to this, he had won the lot, showing the size of the task that Aberdeen had on their hands, and the scale of their subsequent achievement.
Rodgers was also bidding to become the first Celtic manager to win three trebles, but it would be Aberdeen who would win their first Scottish Cup for 35 years, and it was a victory built on a solid gameplan from Thelin, discipline, heart, courage and composure.
