Scottish Cup semi final: Rangers 0-2 Celtic

Pedro Caixinha led his team into his first Old Firm derby but was unable to inspire his side to a win as Brendan Rodgers’ side saw out a comfortable 2-0 win to book a date with Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final.

Celtic took an early lead through Callum McGregor after just 11 minutes. A long ball over the top found Moussa Dembele, who brought it down really well, before the Frenchman fed in McGregor who slotted a left-footed shot beyond Foderingham from the edge of the box.

Brendan Rodgers’ side dominated much of the possession throughout the opening half an hour but couldn’t turn their dominance into goal-scoring opportunities with only one real shot on target. They were then forced into a change when Dembele pulled up with a hamstring injury and signalled his game was up; Leigh Griffiths replacing the £100-billion rated phenomenon.

The League Champions continued to push for a second before the break, Griffiths went closest with a free-kick but for all their possession, Wes Foderingham remained relatively untested as the first-half ended.

Five minutes into the second-half it was 2-0. Willie Collum gave a soft penalty against James Tavernier and Sinclair stepped up to sneak it inside Foderingham’s right-hand post.

Rangers had their first real chance just after an hour when Kenny Miller forced a really good save from Craig Gordon low on his right. Tavernier’s dinked cross was met brilliantly by Miller but he just couldn’t get enough power on his header to put it beyond the Scotland keeper.

The Light Blues kept pushing forward and Miller had a number of half chances, including once that ended with penalty shout for handball, but Gordon was more than a match for them as the clock ticked away.

Celtic almost grabbed a late third through Rogic when the Australian rattled the base of the post from distance with Foderingham beaten.

Rangers were nowhere near good enough on the day and never really threatened Celtic. Next week’s league game between the sides will need to show a marked improvement as many of these players fight for their Rangers careers.

Rangers: Foderingham, Tavernier, Bates, Wilson, Beerman, Holt, Halliday, Hyndman, Miller, Waghorn, Garner

Subs: Alnwick, Hill, Toral, McKay, Hodson, Windass, Dodoo

Goals:

Celtic: Gordon, Lustig, Boyata, Simunovic, Tierney, Brown, Armstrong, Roberts, McGregor, Sinclair, Dembele

Subs: Bailly, Griffiths, Gamboa, Rogic, Sviatchenko, Forrest, Kouassi

Goals: McGregor 11’, Sinclair 50’ (p)