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Celtic fans break lockdown restrictions outside Hampden Park

Celtic fans decided to set off green smoke bombs and break lockdown restrictions outside Hampden Park for the 2020 Scottish Cup Final.

It was just a few weeks ago that angry supporters turned up outside Celtic Park to demand for the sacking of their manager following the Betfred Cup defeat to Ross County. The angry scenes saw some fans arrested by police.

But the fans then decided to back Lennon’s corner at lunchtime, cheering the players as the team bus went past them.

The Green Brigade breached Covid-19 rules as they gathered at Scotland’s national stadium in the hope that they can roar their heroes to a place in the history books.

Ultras groups calling for supporters to gather at 12pm and police were out in force as a sizeable crowd grew bigger.

While some fans attempted to adhere to social distancing guidelines – others clearly went against that, breaching them without a care in the world.

The crowd grew into the thousands, and because of the numbers, in some areas it was impossible to do any kind of social distancing.

Neil Lennon’s side faced Championship outfit Hearts this afternoon and that’s what they done, however it had to go to penalties, and the Hoops won to seal an unprecedented quadruple treble and lift the Scottish Cup for a 40th time after winning the penalty shootout 4-3.

Kristoffer Ajer supplied the vital finish to the 2019/20 competition, which took 16 months to complete.

Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard had Celtic cruising 2-0 by half time, however Liam Boyce and Stephen Kingsley sent it into extra time, Leigh Griffiths restored the lead then Josh Ginnelly’s goal led to penalties.

The Celtic board had given its backing to manager Neil Lennon amid demonstrations outside their stadium calling for their former player to be sacked during a five-game run without a win – and his side have now responded with three consecutive victories.

Hearts, clear leaders of the Championship, looked to lift the trophy for a ninth time, but they left having suffered a ninth consecutive defeat by the Glasgow side.

Player ratings

Celtic: Hazard (7), Ajer (7), Jullien (6), Duffy (5), Christie (7), McGregor (7), Brown (7), Taylor (7), Turnbull (7), Edouard (7), Elyounoussi (7).

Subs used: Rogic (6), Frimpong (5), Laxalt (6), Johnston (6), Griffiths (6), Soro (n/a).

Hearts: Gordon (7), Smith (7), White (7), Berra (7), Walker (6), Boyce (7), Naismith (7), Halliday (7), Irving (7), Kingsley (7), Halkett (6).

Subs used: Ginnelly (8), Wighton (7), Lee (7), Haring (6), Frear (n/a).

Man of the match: Josh Ginnelly.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon tells BBC Scotland: “The weight of expectation, they’re human beings at the end of the day. This has never been done before and you can see how difficult it is.

“We said before the game we’d come up against a very heavily motivated team, we did, but we had good control of the game and we just came off it a little bit. And then we get the third goal and you’re thinking ‘see it out’ and we can’t do that. It’s just pure drama.

“It’s a monumental achievement. I would like to dedicate it to Mr Desmond, Peter (Lawwell) and the board for their unwavering support over the last few months, it’s been a difficult time, and the players, they’ve been absolutely magnificent. They really felt it today, you could see that, the longer the game went on you could see the anxiety coming in and it showed. I even watched the penalties on a screen with our analyst, just the two of us, because I just wanted to watch them in the peace and quiet.

“It’s a very special moment for me on a personal basis. I’ve been here 20 years and I think I’m the first person to do it (win the treble) as a manager and a player. So I’m in a unique band of one and I’m very proud, but I’m very grateful to the people who supported me and helped me achieve this along the way, especially the players.

“I didn’t think we played poorly at all. I thought it was a great cup final. I’m so pleased that we’ve won it. So pleased for the fans as well. It’s just an unbelievable achievement, incredible.

“The weight of all this expectation has gone. That’s 12 trophies in a row, we’re out of the League Cup, and now we can just focus on the league and cup again. Trophies aren’t easy to win, that’s 12 in a row and you’ll never see that again.”

Celtic’s winning penalty-taker Kristoffer Ajer tells BBC Scotland: “It’s a great feeling. We had some tough weeks but today we had to fight through so much. You see the togetherness in the group. We are a bunch of friends who work hard.

“Hearts are a great team, a lot of experience, it’s not the best pitch in Scotland and they made some really great set pieces.

“I had some cramp walking up to that penalty so I had to launch it through the middle.”

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson: “I thought we were absolutely outstanding. To come back in the second half and then recover in the second half of extra-time was phenomenal. It shows all these players are fighting for this club.

“We looked at the teams that had beaten them and the only teams that had done that had played five at the back and three in the middle to try and shut them off, so we did that. Even in the first half, but for a wondergoal and a penalty they didn’t have anything else. So the game plan never really changed, it was just to be more aggressive, to get after them.

“I wasn’t here last year but I think if that happened last year they couldn’t come back from that.

“It shows we can compete against one of the top teams in Scotland. it shows we should be coming to Hampden regularly.”

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