Celtic blow Aberdeen away at Hampden to reach League Cup final

Celtic have reached the final of the League Cup after a dominant victory over Aberdeen at Hampden.

Brendan Rodgers’ men turned on the style to inflict Jimmy Thelin’s first defeat as Dons boss with a comfortable 6-0 win.

Only goal-difference separates the pair at the top of the Premiership but it seemed like a chasm between them at times in Mount Florida on Saturday.

The rampant Hoops were three up by halftime with Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda all on the scoresheet.

Maeda added a fourth just after the break and Nicolas Kuhn made it five just before the hour-mark as Aberdeen were absolutely blown away.

The Japan forward then clinched his hat-trick to put the icing on the green and white cake and make it six in the closing stages.

Kick-off was delayed for around 15 minutes due to poor visibility on the field as a result of smoke bombs being let off in the crowd.

Once it started Arne Engels had the first shot at goal on the third minute but the Belgian midfielder’s effort was well over the bar.

Celtic had the best of the opening stages and Maeda was put through on goal by Reo Hatate but he failed to connect as he would have wanted and Dimitar Mitov collected it comfortably.

It was one way traffic with Aberdeen struggling to get into the game and the pressure finally paid off on the half-hour mark when Carter-Vickers rose highest to head home a corner from Engels and make it 1-0.

Kyogo made it 2-0 just moments later following a trademark lung busting run from Maeda down the left hand side.

The winger ran through the defence before cutting it inside to his countryman who smashed it off the bar and into the net.

Celtic had one-foot in the final five minutes before halftime when Maeda scored to make it 3-0.

The 27-year-old was put through one-on-one with Mitov following an inch-perfect pass by Kuhn and he curled it past the Bulgarian goalkeeper and into the top corner to put his side three up.

Two weeks ago Celtic led the Dons by two goals to nil in the league before Jimmy Thelin’s men fought back to secure a 2-2 draw, but the Swede now had the biggest mountain to climb in his early Aberdeen career if he wanted to stay in the League Cup.

And the mountain got even higher in the second half when Maeda linked up with Kuhn again to make it 4-0 and put the game firmly to bed.

Kuhn then got himself on the scoresheet when he curled a shot from the edge of the box off the underside of the bar and in, as Celtic started to really pile on the agony at the national stadium.

Ester Sokler had Aberdeen’s first real chance with just over 20 minutes remaining but he fired his header wide of Kasper Schmeichel’s post.

Other than that the Denmark keeper was little more than a spectator as it became a case of how many for last season’s double winners.

Maeda hit his hat-trick to make it 6-0 with five minutes remaining following good build up play by Alistair Johnston and Paulo Bernardo.

Celtic will now play the winner of Sunday’s game between Rangers and Motherwell in next month’s final.