Del wants Dons stars to sign off in style

well but it’s never enough to beat them. They’ve assembled a squad which has cost the best part of £ 40m – not all under Brendan Rodgers obviously.

“We’ve spent £200,000 putting our squad together. We’ll still get criticised if we lose though. That’s part and parcel, that’s where Aberdeen have come to in recent years. Everyone wants to see a game, people want to see competition. They want a story, not just for Celtic to turn up.

“But the same people expect Celtic to win. They have a huge advantage over us. It’s like a scratch golfer playing against an 18- handicapper. The 18-handicapper can win but the scratch golfer has to play poorly.

“We have to work hard to make it that kind of day.”

The Dons’ presence in both national cup finals and the distance between them and Rangers in the Premiership is a yardstick of their consistency as the Hoops’ only competition.

And the manager admitted: “I said to the players at the start that I felt this was going to be a special season.

“While we lost one cup final which we were disappointed with, and we’ll finish second in this league, special means winning a trophy. Hopefully I was right with that prediction.

“Sometimes you just get a gut feeling with a group of boys. Hopefully that plays out at Hampden.

“I actually said it because I felt it – it wasn’t premeditated. Whatever they take from that, I don’t know.

“You can only ever judge if your squad is better at the end of the season when you reflect. But up until now there has been enough to suggest this squad has been the best we’ve had yet.

“And there’s pride there. We’d laid some sort of glove on Celtic the last couple of years but it’s clear how impressive this Celtic team has been, getting over 100 points in the league.

“The fact we’ve reached two cup finals and finished second is good going. But I don’t want to finish second all the time. I want to try and finish first and the Scottish Cup gives us the chance to do that.

“Their manager is Manager of the Year, quite rightly. Their players have Player of the Year awards, rightly so.

“But there’s one award left and we’re in with a chance. I’d rather have that chance than be watching someone else taking it on.”