Celtic need therapy after crazy Aberdeen semi-final as Joe Hart's penalty involvement explained

The holders won 6-5 on penalties against the Dons following a 3-3 draw after extra-time. Trailing to an early Bojan Miovski goal, Celtic recovered an led 2-1 going into stoppage time thanks to strikes from Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest. But Aberdeen levelled through Ester Sokler to force an additional 30 minutes and while Celtic led again through Matt O’Riley, Angus MacDonald equalised with a header. In the penalty shoot-out, goalkeeper Joe Hart turned villain to hero, missing a kick to win it before saving Killian Phillips’ effort to round off a bonkers afternoon at the national stadium.

“What a great spectacle for the neutral,” said Rodgers afterwards. “We’re absolutely delighted to get into another final. Big credit to both sets of players. We had a disappointing start, they scored a good goal, then we got the equaliser and a bit more control. Second half, we found a rhythm, which allowed us to create opportunities.

“We could have closed it out after going ahead. But Aberdeen kept coming back, fair play to them. There were a lot of big hearts out there. Never mind football sessions, we need therapy sessions now! Today was about getting to the final and doing that’s a great boost.

“Jamesie Forrest coming on was brilliant – he got us on the ball, combined well with those around him. He was absolutely brilliant, he changed the game for us. We started to keep the ball in the final third, he gets the goal. He’s just a big-game player. Another big plus was that when we took Callum off, Jamesie gave us another experienced head out there. He’s shown recently what a big part he has to play in the final part of the season.”

Rodgers revealed that goalkeeper Hart had shone in training earlier in the week and was always down to hit one of the penalties. His effort to win it, after Ryan Duncan had hit the post, also hit the woodwork, but he guessed correctly later in the shoot-out to save Phillips’ weak effort.

“We looked at penalties during the week and Joe was always designated to take the fifth,” added Rodgers. ”With their keeper being injured, he tried to get it as wide of him as possible, but it was just a little too wide. But his mentality allows him to not let it bother him and we saw what happened in the end.

“He missed one, but he still ended up the hero. Joe’s worked a lot on the mental side of things for a long time now. He’s a very positive, upbeat character. If he has the confidence and he shows he can take them, you have to let him go. Though maybe a bit more practice before next time …”

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