The talking hasn’t stopped from Celtic and Rangers’ Hampden epic.
Brendan Rodgers would have seen it all during his two stints as Celtic manager, but it’s fair to say that what happened over the weekend perhaps tops the lot.
You had it all, from start to finish, and even the aftermath of it all has been as entertaining as the match itself.
There have been Rangers cries about a potential penalty – there are suggestions that the Scottish Football Association (SFA) will release a statement on this.
Others have talked more about how well Rangers played rather than focus on the actual winners. Celtic lifted the trophy, you know!
There has even been a claim that Rangers beating Celtic would have been better for Scottish Football, but let’s focus on the reality.
Cyriel Dessers ‘bottled’ it against Celtic by not taking Rangers penalty
Every Celtic player scored their penalty and all the important people that needed to step up did, including striker Adam Idah.
But the same can’t be said for the other side of the fence because Cyriel Dessers, who came on in extra-time, opted against taking one and, instead, watched Jack Butland score a spot-kick.
Former Hibernian player Tam McManus made it clear and stated that he was ‘stunned’, including how Dessers ‘bottled’ it against Celtic, as he told PLZ Soccer.
I was as stunned as everybody else when I saw Jack Butland coming up to take a penalty kick,” said McManus. “Joe Hart done it a couple of seasons ago, was it?! Which I thought was strange, at the time.
“For him to come up and take one of your first five penalties, your goalkeeper and you have a striker there. I think it shows a real lack of bottle for Cyriel Dessers. That’s all it is.
“That’s what you do as a forward, put your hand forward, because it’s an opportunity to go and score. You have had more practice than defenders, particularly goalkeepers. I was stunned at that and I can understand a lot of Rangers supporters being really disappointed in Cyriel Dessers. If you are a striker and you are letting a goalkeeper. I would be embarrassed in a penalty shootout seeing a goalkeeper go up and take it for me.
What Kasper Schmeichel said about Jack Butland taking Rangers penalty
Goalkeepers taking penalties isn’t alien during shootouts, but you do raise an eyebrow when it happens.
More so because of who has allowed a keeper to go ahead of them and many are firing that towards Dessers now.
But Butland stepped up for the opposition and scored past Kasper Schmeichel, who he knows very well off the field, and Celtic’s number one was pretty honest in how he felt about it all, as he told Premier Sports.
“No, no, listen, I know Jack, he is a very confident guy and he has incredible technique,” said Schmeichel.
“So, his penalty was brilliant. If he can take penalties like that as the last penalty taker under pressure, then fair play to him.
