Aberdeen end 35-year wait for Scottish Cup glory with shootout win over Celtic

Tales of the unexpected still exist in Scottish football after all. History repeated itself in such wonderful fashion for Aberdeen, denying Celtic the domestic treble widely thought inevitable. As The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen blared out at Hampden Park, the backdrop to moving and euphoric scenes, a 35-year wait for the Scottish Cup had ended.

In 1990, as in 2025, Aberdeen saw off Celtic on penalty kicks. In 1970, as in 2025, they halted Celtic’s clean sweep quest. Celtic’s campaign has been one of highs, especially in Europe, but this will sting for a summer.

Not all heroes wear capes. Dimitar Mitov, who saved two penalties in the shootout, was at Cambridge United as recently as 2023. Via St Johnstone, the Bulgarian has made himself an Aberdeen legend. So, too, has Jimmy Thelin. Ending Aberdeen’s Scottish Cup drought means the Swede will be playing with house money for the foreseeable future.

Aberdeen’s suffocation of proceedings played a part in this as a dismal final but Thelin will claim with perfect legitimacy that he got his tactical approach spot on. He was helped by a horrendously sloppy Celtic performance. “We spent all week trying to visualise winning this game,” he said. “The players were tired, they were cramping but they kept believing.”

In 14 previous visits to Hampden, Brendan Rodgers had never lost. He applauded Aberdeen as they took delivery of the cup, while unquestionably puzzled by the nature of his team’s output, but was still magnanimous when dust settled.

“We didn’t play anywhere near the standard we needed to,” he said. “We can have no complaints, we didn’t do enough in the game. We cannot blame anyone else.”

It did not help that Paulo Bernardo, Arne Engels and Adam Idah had left the scene when Rodgers was searching for salvation. That represents a combined £25m in last summer’s transfer market. Luke McCowan and Johnny Kenny, essentially Celtic backup players, were left on penalty duties. They at least scored, with the captain, Callum McGregor, and right-back, Alistair Johnston, denied by Mitov. McGregor was inconsolable at the end.

Aberdeen had determined going toe-to-toe with Celtic would lead to bloodshed. Celtic lacked pace and invention. The upshot was such a grim spectacle, if one livened by a Kasper Schmeichel howler that afforded Aberdeen late parity. How significant that was to prove. Dreadful but belatedly dramatic.

Even if Aberdeen had lost, Thelin could point to 19 goals scored by Celtic against his team in five previous outings as justification of his approach. Celtic were sloppy, meaning Aberdeen were never out of the contest despite their lack of ambition. Mitov was barely worked.

The goal that handed Celtic a first-half advantage rather summed things up. Engels’s corner from the left found the head of Cameron Carter-Vickers. The centre-back’s attempt at goal was barely dangerous but flicked off the shoulder of Alfie Dorrington before bouncing in via a post. A shabby goal to typify a shabby final.

Leighton Clarkson’s free-kick for Aberdeen, five minutes after the restart, epitomised the lack of conviction from those in red. Clarkson shot tamely at Schmeichel from 20 yards. That rarest of things came next, an Aberdeen chance from open play, with Kevin Nisbet heading over the bar. Engels hit a post as Celtic looked to press home their superiority.

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View image in fullscreen Celtic’s goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, turns the ball into his own net. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Thelin’s substitutions had positive impact. A replacement, Shayden Morris, triggered the moment that handed Aberdeen such unlikely hope. For anyone not of a Celtic persuasion, it was a quite hilarious moment of smash and grab. Morris’s low cross should not have presented much of a problem for Schmeichel, the veteran goalkeeper instead deflecting the ball into his own net with his hand. Cue bedlam in the Aberdeen end.

Daizen Maeda, Scotland’s player of the year, was clean through on goal with two minutes of stoppage time played. Surely he could rise above Celtic’s bluntness? Maeda allowed Mitov to save. Rodgers, normally so calm on the touchline, was incandescent.

Aberdeen were now playing for penalties. Arguably, they had been playing for penalties since kick-off. Dante Polvara’s volley, two minutes into the second period of extra-time, came closing to sending Aberdeen in front. Celtic looked unusually devoid of ideas until Jeffrey Schlupp cracked the upright from distance. Aberdeen scored every one of their penalties. As McGregor and Johnston erred, the upset had been confirmed.

There was a bruising subplot for Hibernian. Aberdeen’s glory means it is they, rather than Hibs, are guaranteed European football until Christmas. That carries a boost of around £5m. Hibs and Dundee United have shuffled down in the qualifying spots.

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