Celtic are on course for their ninth domestic treble and their third Scottish Cup in a row, as Brendan Rodgers’ side continues to assert their dominance in Scottish football.
With the league title all but secured, the Hoops are now focused on lifting what could be their 121st major trophy, with the Scottish Cup as the final piece of the puzzle.
Neil Lennon, who won trebles as both a player and a manager at Celtic, is confident that Rodgers—whom he replaced in the dugout back in 2019—can guide the team to yet another clean sweep.
With Rangers already out of the competition, Lennon believes Celtic will sense an opportunity. Speaking about the Hoops’ chances, he said: [RecordSport]
“With Rangers going out of the competition early, Celtic will smell blood. You’d like to think that.
“On the flip side all the other teams in the competition will be thinking, we’ve got a chance to get to a final here. Hibs will not lay down. It’s maybe not the game that everybody thought it was a few weeks ago.
“But the fact that Celtic did lose the game last week will top them up in terms of getting a wee bit of revenge and still wanting to put the marker down: ‘We’re the number one team, we’re the big boys here.’ And Celtic do rise to the occasion. There seems to be a big game mentality when these kind of occasions roll around.
“If you look at the squad as well, whether they start or they come on, they all seem at it. Whatever Brendan’s doing with them behind the scenes, there’s nobody with their heads down or nobody sort of sulking. The substitutions they made against St Mirren on Saturday made an unbelievable difference.
“In the last half hour, going forward, Celtic were breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking. And he’s got that sort of rotation that he can use with quality players. So it’ll be interesting to see what his starting line-up is.
“He seems to be set on a starting XI, like the one he started with in Munich. And then he substituted them second half against Hibs, started them again against Aberdeen. I would imagine that would be, in his mind, the strongest team at the minute.
“Although, Yang’s made a massive contribution. McCowan’s been great. So all these sort of parts all add up to what’s been a momentous season for them up until now. But this game is going to be a humdinger, I think.”
Celtic play Hibs at the weekend, a team full of confidence after beating Celtic and winning the Edinbrugh Derby. They’re also bringing a good travelling support, with 7,000 expected to fill the away section on Sunday.
Celtic will need to be on their A-game.
With the Scottish Cup now in their sights, Celtic are in a strong position to add yet another chapter to their history of domestic dominance. If they can get past Hibs, they’ll be firm favourites to make it treble number nine.
