Celtic beat Rangers in penalty shootout to win League Cup after dramatic final

Celtic have defeated Rangers in a penalty shootout to lift the League Cup after a dramatic final at Hampden.

Daizen Maeda scored the winning penalty to give the Hoops the first piece of silverware of the season following a pulsating game on Sunday afternoon.

There was bags full of drama at the national stadium with the game poised at 3-3 after 90 minutes after two late goals.

The win takes Celtic’s major trophy haul to 119, as they go one ahead of Rangers for the first time in over 80 years.

Nedim Bajrami gave Rangers the lead at the end of a cagey first-half where Celtic had most of the possession but the best chances fell the way of Philippe Clement’s side.

Greg Taylor made up for an earlier mistake when he pulled the Hoops level ten minutes into the second half before Maeda put them in front on the hour mark.

But Rangers fought back again and Mohamed Diomande scored to make it 2-2 with 15 minutes left on the clock.

Nicolas Kuhn scored what looked like a late winner for Celtic in the 87th minute, but Rangers went straight up the park and grabbed another equaliser through Danilo to give us extra time.

Kasper Schmeichel was the first goalkeeper called into action when Ianis Hagi had a shot from an awkward angle inside the first five minutes.

The Denmark international did well to palm it away and the danger was averted for Celtic who had the best of the early possession without troubling Jack Butland.

They had their first real chance on the 15th minute when Nicolas Kuhn burst through the defence before being blocked by the Rangers keeper who also kept out a shot from Reo Hatate on the rebound.

Leon Balogun then came close to opening the scoring with a header from a James Tavernier cross, but Schmeichel kept it out.

Celtic continued to dominate the ball but were restricted to few sights of goal as Rangers defended resolutely in the final third.

The opening goal came just before the break when Bajrami pounced on a loose back pass from Taylor before playing in Hamza Igamane who had his initial shot saved by Schmeichel.

The Albania playmaker followed in on the rebound and passed it in the net to make it 1-0 to Rangers with four minutes of the first half remaining.

It remained 1-0 going into the second half with Brendan Rodgers making the first change of the match as Liam Scales replaced Auston Trusty at the break.

Kyogo Furuhashi had a great chance to pull Celtic level after the restart but Butland turned it round the post for a corner.

The Hoops had their equaliser soon after when Taylor’s deflected shot found its way into the net to make it 1-1.

Just minutes later they found themselves in front when Maeda latched on the loose header from Nicolas Raskin before getting the best of Balogun and slotting it past Butland to make it 2-1.

Vaclav Cerny had a good effort from outside the box well saved by Schmeichel who put it behind for a corner as Rangers chased an equaliser.

Clement’s men had a good spell after that and they got their reward when Diomande turned Arne Engels inside the box and put it into the net to make it 2-2 with just over 15 minutes remaining.

Bajrami came close to giving Rangers the lead with five minutes to go when he struck the side-netting with a shot from inside the box.

But Celtic went straight up the park after that and Kuhn played a one-two with Engels before firing past Butland to make it 3-2 in the dying minutes.

Just as it looked as though the Hoops had won it, Rangers got themselves back into it when Danilo headered past Schmeichel to send the game to extra-time.

Tavenier had a free-kick right on the edge of the Celtic area three minutes after the re-start but he sent his effort over the bar.

It remained all square after 30 minutes of extra time and a penalty shootout was called for to decide who would take the trophy.

Celtic won the shootout 5-4 with Schmeichel saving from Ridvan Yilmaz and Maeda scoring the winning kick with all of the Hoops takers hitting the target.