NafisaCeltic missed the opportunity to clinch a domestic treble on Saturday after they lost on penalties to Aberdeen at Hampden Park in the SFA Cup final.
The Hoops had already secured the Scottish Premiership and the League Cup earlier this season, but they couldn’t complete the hat-trick with a victory over the Dons.
Captain Callum McGregor, who experienced his first-ever domestic final defeat with the club, and right-back Alistair Johnston both failed from the spot to hand Aberdeen the triumph.
Why Kasper Schmeichel will feel let down:
McGregor and Johnston were not the only players responsible for Celtic not lifting the SFA Cup, though, as the match only reached penalties because it ended level after regular time.
Kasper Schmeichel will be especially frustrated with his role in Aberdeen’s equaliser, after an own goal from Alfie Dorrington had initially put the Hoops ahead.
The Danish goalkeeper tried to predict where the cross was headed by diving into the box to punch the ball away, only to accidentally direct it backwards into his own net for an own goal.
Schmeichel was awarded a 6/10 player rating by 67HailHail, who described his involvement in the equaliser as a ‘rare, but awful, error’ from the goalkeeper.
The experienced keeper, however, was not the player who ultimately cost Celtic the treble, as Daizen Maeda had a chance to rectify the shot-stopper’s error in the final moments of injury time.
Why Daizen Maeda lost Celtic the treble:
The Japan international denied Brendan Rodgers the treble with a huge miss in injury time at the end of the 90 minutes, as he broke clear on goal with an opportunity to make it 2-1.
Aberdeen would have had very little time to find an equaliser had the forward converted his chance, but he fired a tame effort at Dimitar Mitov after going one-on-one.
Maeda, who BBC commentator Liam McLeod said “reminds you of a wasp” due to his buzzing presence as a pressing forward, worked tirelessly throughout the game to close down defenders and trouble Aberdeen.
However, the striker, who received a 5/10 player rating and was labelled ‘wasteful’ by 67HailHail, let his team down at the crucial moment with a massive miss that ultimately cost Celtic the treble.
As shown in the table above, Maeda’s finishing has been fairly erratic this season, with more ‘big chances’ missed than goals scored in the league, so his miss at Hampden Park may not have been the biggest shock.
He was worse than Schmeichel, though, because the striker had the chance to seal the match and redeem the goalkeeper’s mistake by scoring his big opportunity, but failed to do so.
There is no doubt that Maeda had an outstanding campaign, netting 33 goals across all competitions, and it is unfortunate that it ended on a somewhat sour note with that performance which cost Rodgers a first domestic treble since returning to Parkhead.
Nafisa
