It’s an Easter Sunday trip to Hampden Park for around 45,000 Celtic supporters today as Brendan Rodgers takes his team to the National stadium to take on St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup Semi Final…
The Scottish Champions are set to retain their title next weekend but before that the focus will be on booking a place in the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen as Celtic eye an incredible ninth treble for the club, an actual world record.. Jimmy Thelin’s Dons needed extra time to beat Hearts at Hampden yesterday afternoon, meaning it’s the Pittodrie side await if Celtic can overcome the Premiership bottom side.
So with theRangers having their season ended in Bilbao on Thursday night it was all over bar the threat of being dragged into the bottom six play-off dog-fight for their wee cousins yesterday. What’s not to like about all that?
Brendan Rodgers and his team do not need any motivation for a re-match against St Johnstone who brought a game-plan that worked perfectly a few weeks back up at McDiarmid Park as they caught Celtic on an off-day with possibly the worst performance of the season, barring the New Year game at Ibrox.
We can avenge both of these over the next three matches and in doing so celebrate a title win and reach a Scottish Cup Final.
Celtic Team News
Other than Kasper Schmeichel, Dane Murray and Yang, who should be back shortly after injuring his elbow at McDiarmid Park, Brendan Rodgers has his full squad available and at a Hampden showcase match is likely to field what he sees as his strongest possible team.
Sinisalo will have the gloves until Kasper returns and he is now back on the grass. The back four will see Auston Trusty return (he missed last week as his wife went into labour) and Greg Taylor referred to Jeffrey Schlupp at left back. The midfield three picks itself but it’s more interested up front after the changes made last weekend when Celtic were excellent in the first half with Adam Idah – who has had an eventful week – up front with James Forrest on the right and Daizen Maeda moved back the left wing. Brendan could do that today too but the alternative is to play his regular ‘strongest three’ and since the January window that’s been Kühn, Maeda and Jota.
My Predicted Celtic XI: Sinisalo; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor; McGregor (c), Engels, Hatate; Kühn, Maeda and Jota.
However our Editor reckons that the front three will be Forrest, Idah and Maeda. Loser buys the pies.
Match Officials
Rookie referee Calum Scott has the whistle this afternoon for the St Johnstone v Celtic Scottish Cup semi-final and he will be assisted by Dougie Potter and Graeme Stewart. Andrew Dallas will be the man responsible for the VAR operation with Alan Mulvanny assisting.
Calum Scott was the referee for Celtic’s side thumping 5-2 victory over Falkirk in the Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final at Celtic Park last September.
Most recently, he was the man in the middle for Celtic’s comprehensive 5-0 win versus Ross County in late November at Celtic Park. The Hoops scored five first-half goals making it a controversy free afternoon for the whistler.
Calum Scott recently took charge of the SPFL Trust Trophy Final at the Falkirk stadium as Livingston hammered Queen’s Park to collect the silverware. He also had the whistle at a more successful afternoon for the Spiders, the day they knocked theRangers out of the Scottish Cup.
Kick Off Time
The Scottish Cup semi-final on Easter Sunday between St Johnstone and Celtic kicks off at 3pm. There were large queues and thousands struck outside at kick-off time in the first semi-final between Aberdeen and Hearts. Please ensure that your mobile phone is fully charged and get to the stadium as early as possible. Bring a flag, Irish, Basque or Celtic and enjoy the game. No flares or smoke as it will only mean lower number of tickets for future games at Hampden.
The semi-final kicks off at 3pm (Celtic Park Time).
Where to Watch
Premier Sports have selected this match for live broadcast semi-final and they will have it on their Premier Sports 1 channel this afternoon. The game will also be on the Premier Sports player on its app and the website. Celtic TV will show the match live to subscribers based outside of Britain and Ireland. St Johnstone v Celtic Sportscene highlights will be shown on BBC One Scotland at 11.40pm Easter Sunday night.
Score Prediction
Lightning won’t strike twice and Celtic will cope with the carbon-copy St Johnstone tactics that aren’t really suited to the wide open spaces at Celtic. With a huge Celtic support at the game and with an element of pay-back in the Celtic squad’s mindset, Celtic will win this one fairly comfortably – St Johnstone 0 Celtic 4.
Enjoy your afternoon whether you are going to Hampden or watching in TV.
COYBIG!
A year ago today, Celtic beat Aberdeen 6:5 on penalties after a 3:3 draw in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
Kuhn, Forrest and O’Riley with the goals whilst a Joe Hart penalty save seals the victory. pic.twitter.com/Jfwr9OMT3U
— Celtic GIFs (@CelticGIFs) April 19, 2025
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