Celtic beat ten-man Rangers 3-1 in extra time at Hampden to reach League Cup final

Celtic have reached the League Cup Final with an extra-time victory over ten-man Rangers at Hampden.

Martin O’Neill’s men ran out 3-1 winners at the national stadium on Sunday.

Johnny Kenny opened the scoring with a bullet header just minutes after the Hoops had a goal chalked off, and Rangers were then reduced to ten men when Thelo Aasgaard was shown a red card for a reckless challenge at the end of the first half.

James Tavernier equalised from the penalty spot late in the second half and took the game into extra-time.

His fellow captain, Callum McGregor, then produced an unstoppable strike to put Celtic back in front before Callum Osmand sealed the victory.

The Hoops will now take on St Mirren in next month’s final.

Celtic had the best of the opening exchanges, and the first shot at goal came from Seb Tounekti, who curled his effort just over the bar.

Then just moments later, Thelo Aasgaard had an ambitious effort easily saved by Kasper Schmiechel for Rangers’ first sight at goal.

A big chance then fell to Daizen Maeda, but he may have taken the shot too early, and it was easily saved by Jack Butland.

Celtic had the ball in the net after that, but Benjamin Nygren’s goal was ruled out for an offside in the build up.

Maeda had strayed just millimeters beyond the last Rangers defender before playing the Swedish midfielder in, and the game remained goalless.

That was a big reprieve for Rangers, and they looked to take advantage almost instantly when a golden opportunity fell to Youseff Chermiti, but his effort was just inches wide of the post.

The Hoops got themselves in front midway through the first half when Kenny rose highest to head a corner from Arne Engels past Butland to make it 1-0.

The Irishman nearly had a brace two minutes later when he burst through the Rangers defence and forced Butland into a good save with a powerful strike that was palmed away for a corner.

It really was end-to-end action at this stage, and a gilt-edged pass from Danilo put Nico Raskin through one-on-one with Schmeichel, but the Denmark international did well to keep it out and Celtic’s lead intact.

However, their task to get back into the game got even tougher when Aasgaard was sent off for a high challenge on Anthony Ralston with five minutes of the first half remaining.

Auston Trusty might feel lucky that he was just shown a yellow in injury time when he caught Butland in the head with a trailing foot.

Celtic were ahead at half-time, and Rangers made their first change during the break when they replaced Danilo with Djeidi Gassama.

Engels came close to doubling the lead early in the second-half, but he curled it wide of Butland’s post.

Despite being a man down, Rangers stayed competitive and gave as good as they got in the opening stages of the half as they pushed for an equaliser.

Butland was called into action again, and he produced a great save from Kenny to keep Rangers in it before also turning a Ralston effort round the post for a corner.

James Forrest then fired a close-range strike off the crossbar with 20 minutes to go as the Hoops looked to finish the game.

Rangers were awarded a spot-kick with ten minutes remaining on the clock after Ralston was penalised when a shot deflected of his arm as he was falling to the ground inside the box.

Tavernier stepped up and struck the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-1.

Callum Osmand had a chance to win the game for Celtic after an inch-perfect through ball from Forrest, but the teenager’s shot was well saved by Butland.

Reo Hatate could have won it in injury time after a period of sustained pressure for Celtic, but he blazed his shot well over the bar and the game headed into extra-time.

Extra-time was just three minutes old when McGregor struck to put Celtic back in front with a ferocious strike from the edge of the box to make it 2-1.

Butland then kept Rangers in it with a finger-tip save to keep a diving header from Osmand out.

But Osmand got himself on the scoresheet to make it 3-1 towards the end of extra-time and secure Celtic’s place in the final.