Chris Sutton witnessed it with his own eyes. At Hampden in December Celtic won the Betfred Cup 1-0 thanks to a goal from Chris Jullien.
The hoops weren’t at their best but as serial winners they know what to do, to get over the line and win trophies.
Neil Lennon was limited in his choices. Odsonne Edouard wasn’t fit but was put on the bench, Lewis Morgan started as a striker with negotiations underway for a January move to Inter Miami.
Moi Elyounoussi started the match but was miles off it. At half-time he was replaced, his next starting appearance was in February.
Celtic dug in, took their chances with their big players putting in strong performances led by Fraser Forster who topped a fantastic display by saving a penalty from Alfredo Morelos.
Oh, and Celtic played with 10 men after Jeremie Frimpong, starting the ninth senior match of his career.
Since Scott Brown raised the trophy the match has been subjected to the most amazing make-over.
Apparently Celtic were played off the park, were inferior in every area of the park but somehow managed to get their hands on the trophy.
That line has been trotted out by various figures in and around Ibrox, covering Celtic’s form this season Sutton told Daily Record readers:
As for the domestic cup competitions, unblemished. Through to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup with the Betfred Cup already tucked in the cabinet for a fourth straight term.
Having listened to the postscript over recent months and rhetoric coming from Ibrox, I realise it was the most one-sided game through Rangers domination since Arbroath beat Bon Accord 36-0.
There’s just one problem with all of that talk. The trophy ended up leaving Hampden on the Celtic team bus headed back for the party at Parkhead. Cup ties are about winning, aren’t they?
That victory gave Celtic their tenth successive domestic trophy covering a period of 36 months.
Reflecting on the match, four months later, Ibrox assistant manager Michael Beale told the Daily Record:
We are in a two club battle domestically, let’s be honest. We played very well in a cup final against Celtic and it was the most one-sided final maybe in history that a team loses. We are moving forward; we have young players people respect, we have built respect in Europe.
Since the turn of the year Celtic stretched their lead at the top of the table from two points to 13, Neil Lennon’s squad picked up 28 out of 30 points while Beale watched his side collected just 17 points with defeats from Hamilton, Hearts and Kilmarnock who are in the bottom six.
