FRENCH POLISH FROM DEMBELE
Super sub is just too hot to handle as he muscles in with a delightful double to clinch final place for Celtic
AS a weary Leigh Griffiths trudged off around the hour mark, tribal allegiances were cast aside and both sets of supporters rose in acclaim. With hindsight, the Hibs fans might have been moved to tears as their former goalscoring idol was replaced by Moussa Dembele.
Frenchman Dembele hasn’t seen much action this season, but his muscular forward play and calm finishing were the deciding factors in this barnstorming semi-final. The 21-year-old scored twice as Celtic saw off a second-half fightback to earn a third successive cup final appearance under Brendan Rodgers.
The day delivered yet another big moment for Rodgers and his players. By contrast, the League Cup continues to inflict its own special brand of torture on Neil Lennon.
Generally kind to the Northern Irishman in his playing days, the competition has blighted his managerial career through embarrassing defeats with Celtic, to an early exit to Queen of the South last season. In its own way, this defeat was just as frustrating.
The half-time scoreline may have suggested otherwise but Celtic were there for the taking. It took the concession of two near-identical Mikael Lustig goals to force Lennon’s hand into the substitutions that would make a real game of it.
Rodgers routinely shuffles his Celtic pack and, not so fresh from a taxing Champions League assignment in Munich, this would have seemed a logical occasion for a spot of extra tinkering.
Despite having only one full day to recover and prepare, he chose to make just two alterations to the side which ran hard in the Allianz Arena, removing Cristian Gamboa and Olivier Ntcham in favour of Nir Bitton and Callum McGregor.
Celtic’s defensive vulnerabilities had been laid bare by the concession of three preventable goals from crosses in Germany, but this time they were the beneficiaries as Hibs failed to defend their goal with due care.
Space seemed at a premium as Stuart Armstrong pulled Scott Sinclair’s deflected shot on to his chest and sized up the options in the middle. His left-wing dink was attacked by Dedryck Boyata but the combined intervention of Hibs centre-backs Paul Hanlon and Efe Ambrose stopped the header threatening goal.
Unfortunately, winger Brandon Barker had failed to tuck in sufficiently to cover the break to the back post and Lustig had a free shot to tap in.
Barker doesn’t enjoy the same profile as his fellow Manchester City loanee Patrick Roberts but, of all the wide players on the pitch, he was actually showing the most attacking menace.
Ceding ten years and several mph to the 20-year-old, Lustig was struggling to keep pace but it’s not always about how fast a player’s legs move. Soon the Swede was helping himself to a second backpost gift on the back of some clever off-the-ball movement.
This time, it was not Barker to blame but, crushingly, goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw. As Griffiths launched a left-wing corner, Lustig cleverly spun off David Gray to work the room for a side-footed finish. Even allowing for a skid off the sodden turf, the attempted save was a calamity for Laidlaw, who got two hands to the ball but merely pushed it up and into the net.
Pressed into emergency cover at centre-back in midweek, Lustig was enjoying being back in his normal role but was booked for being a little too pumped up in a tackle which saw him meet both ball and his former team-mate Ambrose in the middle of the park.
Lennon had stationed Marvin Bartley and John McGinn in the deep-lying midfield roles but, although that had restricted the impact of McGregor and Armstrong, it had also detracted from Hibs’ own prospects of taking the game to Celtic.
Never one to dither, the former Parkhead boss made two changes at the break. Gray was removed from the right-back beat in favour of Steven Whittaker, while Martin Boyle came on for Bartley, giving Hibs a second explosion of pace on the right.
The change hauled Hibs back into the game but not before Kieran Tierney had clipped the post with a deflected drive.
The youngster complained to referee Kevin Clancy for not awarding a corner, but his protests were measured in comparison to Boyata’s remonstrations as Hibs were awarded a penalty at the other end.
Boyata clearly felt aggrieved but his theatrics may also have been fuelled by an element of embarrassment at his own culpability in the lead-up.
First, the Belgian was too casual on the ball and allowed Anthony Stokes to pinch the ball in the centre circle. Quick enough to get back and cover as the move developed through Boyle, he was then clumsy in making a challenge that, while not quite a trip, was still enough to send the substitute tumbling.
Stokes, hitherto anonymous, took the kick and his calm side-foot finish meant Hibs were in with a shout.
The goal energised a somewhat disappointingly small Hibs support enough to prompt their generous show of support for Griffiths, a man who has run himself into the ground for club and country in recent weeks.
Rodgers has promised that Dembele will be given a more prominent role in the games to come and, with Griffiths running on empty, it’s likely Dembele will start in Wednesday’s top-of-the-table Premiership clash against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
The Frenchman had a simple task to gather Sinclair’s scuffed shot and slot home Celtic’s third but, even then, the restored two-goal advantage was halved within five minutes.
Lennon used his final sub on teenager Oli Shaw and the payback
was instant. Some simple, incisive passing from Dylan McGeouch and Whittaker shuffled the ball forward and the young striker moved purposefully off Boyata to apply a low finish.
Hibs may have sensed an equaliser but the effects of Rodgers’ own substitutions were starting to kick in. James Forrest, on for Roberts, burst off the right to hit a shot that was tipped over and then the combined efforts of Laidlaw and Hanlon were required to halt the marauding Dembele.
The No10 wouldn’t be denied, however, and after latching on to a pass from Celtic’s third replacement Tom Rogic, he applied the deadly and decisive finish that finally put Hibs’ challenge to bed.