Celtic are motoring this season under Brendan Rodgers as the club enjoys a great domestic and European campaign so far.
After Celtic beat Hibs in the Scottish Premiership, that result extended Brendan Rodgers’ unbeaten domestic run to 18 games this season.
Away from domestic matters, Celtic’s draw with Club Brugge in the Champions League leaves the Hoops boss within a whisker of qualifying from UEFA’s flagship competition for the first time in over 10 years.
So when it comes to results and progress across all competitions, Celtic are completely in the driving seat, especially for the upcoming League Cup final against Rangers on Sunday.
Kris Boyd nailed it with his Celtic comments about the game where he said the Hoops are ‘heavy favourites’ to win the game as he admitted Rangers will need to ‘find a few gears’ to beat the Parkhead club.
So when Luke McCowan was asked if the upcoming final was ‘season-defining’ for Celtic, the Bhoys midfielder nailed it wit his reply.
Luke McCowan knows exactly what the upcoming League Cup final vs Rangers is
McCowan told the Daily Record, “Aye and no, I guess. Not season-defining. But it’s a big game Sunday.
“Obviously, you’ve got Zagreb first and I’ll be looking forward to that because I can’t play on Sunday, so I can’t really talk much on it.
Listen, we know what comes next, it’s another big game away in the Champions League. We’ve had a couple already, so the boys will be ready to go again.”
It was a strange question, to be honest. With Celtic sitting with a healthy lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table and on the cusp of qualification from the Champions League, the League Cup final, although it would be great to win, is certainly not a game that is going to define Celtic’s season.
If Celtic win the cup, they move on to the next game. If Brendan Rodgers loses it, then it won’t have any bearing on how the league title race will go or if the Hoops make it out of the Champions League phase.
It was a bit of a strange question that, if truth be told, would have been better suited being posed to Rangers manager, Philippe Clement.
Celtic’s record vs Rangers in the League Cup since 1980
Celtic’s trophy count shows how the club have enjoyed near-total domination over Rangers over the last 20 years in all domestic competitions as the Parkhead club racked up another nine-in-a-row and a Quadruple Treble.
However, in the League Cup alone, the spoils have been almost evenly split between the both clubs as Celtic and Rangers have met each other 17 times at various stages in the competition since 1980.
In nine finals, Celtic have won four with three of those (1982, 2020 and 2023) all taken care of in the regulation 90 minutes:
04.12.1982 – Celtic 2 v 1 Rangers
15.03.2009 – Celtic 2 v 0 Rangers FC [AET]
08.12.2019 – Rangers 0 v 1 Celtic
26.02.2023 – Rangers 1 v 2 Celtic
Sunday’s final does promise to be a close-knit affair and one many Celtic fans will be confident of getting a positive result.
