GOAL THAT DEFIED ROGIC
Aussie Tom’s cup final winner was perfect ending to Celtic’s fairytale Invincible season
THE heavens opened and a lightning bolt struck. Hampden stood still for a split-second as Scottish football history was made.
It had all come down to this one moment. The 2017 Scottish Cup Final when Celtic faced Aberdeen on May 27.
The last day of a remarkable 2016-17 season and Celtic were on the brink of the domestic Treble.
The scoreline stood locked at 1-1 and the match was two minutes into stoppage time. That’s when Tom Rogic decided he would take matters into his own hands ...
The Hoops midfielder picked up the ball on the halfway line and slalomed his way through the Aberdeen defence before squeezing a shot past keeper Joe Lewis to make it 2-1 to Celtic. Cue utter bedlam in the stands. There was no way back for the Dons.
Rogic’s strike was no ordinary goal. It was the Invincible strike.
A fitting climax to an incredible season as Celtic, under new boss Brendan Rodgers, became the first team in Scottish football history to win the domestic Treble without losing a game.
The Northern Irishman’s team played 47 games in all competitions. They won 43, drew four and lost none. It was a goal like no other in a remarkable season.
When 13,000 fans turned up to greet new boss Rodgers inside Paradise in May 2016 few could have predicted what would happen next.
Maybe the script for the 2016-17 season had already been written in the stars. After all we now had a Celtic manager who had inherited the reins of a club he had supported all his life.
It was also the 50th anniversary of the stunning European Cup triumph in Lisbon under Jock Stein. The Parkhead fans paid their own tribute all season with their fantastic mobile phone light show in the 67th minute of every game.
From the moment Scott Sinclair scored a late winner against Hearts