DREAM CATCHER Dons boss confident of a shock
BRENDAN RODGERS has urged his Celtic heroes to take their once in a lifetime chance to fulfil an unprecedented dream.
The Parkhead manager and his team are just one game from sealing an astonishing Invincibles Treble. Victory over Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final will secure just the fourth clean-sweep in the club’s history and also cap a magical debut campaign in Glasgow for Rodgers. The Hoops boss knows the size of the prize and said: “For us, there is one more step to cap what could be a once in a lifetime achievement. “You only have to see how long it has taken for a team to go through 38 games unbeaten and you see how few times it has been done, a team winning three trophies in the same season. “To actually have the two together is like a dream right there. “It has been a brilliant season, no matter what the result is. The whole club is very much going in the same direction. “There is a good feeling, but we want to finish it off.” Rodgers is adamant there is no strain on his troops as they stand on the brink of greatness. He added: “There is no more, no less. I have tried to programme the players to deal with pressure because that’s what it is when you play for Celtic. “There have been so many games. When we went to Ibrox, or went to Pittodrie, Tynecastle, Hampden. Part of our programme of development has been to get the players to cope with that because you have to. “If you want to be successful, it is always there. It is not going away.” If Celtic do complete the mission, Rodgers will be just the third manager in Celtic’s history to collect the lot and write a special chapter in folklore. Rodgers sat amongst greats at the Hydro’s Lisbon Lions celebration this week and said: “Sometimes it is when you are gone, you reflect on things. “If you are talking about the club even, I just get great pride sitting there, a real sense of family. “I looked at all the other players who were there, Murdo Macleod, Roy Aitken, Packie [Bonner], all these great players from the past and the Lions themselves. “All the supporters themselves bring a real vibrancy to everywhere we go. I know where I am at, I knew what I was coming in to, I knew the expectancy here. “I know the demands that are on you here and I enjoy that. I’ve loved the feeling this season of pressure to deliver for them.”
WEATHER reports suggest Hampden will crackle with thunder and lightning this afternoon but Derek Mcinnes is already raining on Celtic’s parade. The odds are stacked heavily in favour of Brendan Rodgers’ side, with five wins out of five already against the Pittodrie club this season. 1969. Mcinnes said: “You can only concentrate on your own performance and own team. We need a near perfect performance, each player to play at their level, and we still feel we’re capable of that. “We go into the game in good form. We’ve got to recognise the efforts of Celtic this season. They’ve had loads of plaudits and rightly so. “I’m surprised a Celtic team hasn’t won more trebles over the last few years and with the vast difference in resources I don’t think it’s too surprising for them to pick up a treble. “But the fact they’ve been unbeaten gives you an indication of their focus as well as having good players. “Once it started to be spoken about around September or October it’s something they’ve clearly aimed for and they deserve credit for that. “But there’s still one game left and hopefully we can have our own celebration and rightly be proud of our team.” Mcinnes added: “We take strength from our form and the fact we finished second in the Premiership – and comfortably as 76 points was a fantastic return. “We are going into the game with a clean bill of health and also with the players feeling good. We can put in a performance that can win.”