Celtic will play Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden on the weekend of 29th/30th April and that means that that Championship side Inverness Caley Thistle will play League One side Falkirk in the other semi-final.
Presumably the two lower league sides will play on the Saturday with the big Glasgow Derby happening on the Sunday in what will be a re-run of last month’s League Cup Final which Celtic ended up winning more comfortably than the 2-1 scoreline suggests.
Ange Postecoglou’s side is currently nine points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership with just ten games remaining. That makes Celtic short-odds favourites to retain the title that they won last May and with a lower league team guaranteed to be in the Scottish Cup Final on 3rd June, Celtic will know that they will have a tremendous opportunity to compete a Treble if they can beat their Glasgow rivals again.
Yet Rangers are the holders and will be desperate to deny Celtic that Treble chance. On Friday evening Highland side Inverness Caley Thistle got the better of Kilmarnock while this evening Ayr United lost out to Falkirk with the visitors missing a penalty before the Falkirk shocked the visitors with a late winner via a wicked deflection.
Both side will bring sizeable supports to Hampden but it is unlikely to be too difficult to get a ticket. That won’t be the case in the Glasgow Derby semi-final with the winner of that one going into the final as massive favourites.
The semi-final draw was made after this evening’s 2-1 win for Falkirk over Ayr United and Scottish football will be buzzing over the next few months as all four team dream of lifting the trophy. Celtic will be favourites but Ange Postecoglou will be taking nothing for granted and Michael Beale will be looking for his first trophy as Rangers manager.
The financial incentive in the other semi-final will be huge as the final – regardless of the result – will provide each club with a massively important cash injection. Inverness has struggled financially since losing their place in the top flight and Falkirk have found themselves in the third tier of Scottish football. But making money is fine but the players will be eyeing the glory of lifting the Scottish Cup.
Bet you can’t wait!