Potential Old Firm final in League Cup as Celtic and Rangers kept apart in semi-final draw

The Scottish League Cup could be heading for a potential Old Firm final with Glasgow’s big two kept apart in the semi-final draw.

Defending champions Celtic will play Kilmarnock and Rangers will play Aberdeen for a place in next year’s final.

Both semi-finals will be played at Hampden on January 14 and 15th.

The last Glasgow derby final was won by the Hoops thanks to a Christopher Jullien winner under Neil Lennon in 2019.

Celtic also won last year’s tournament with a 2-1 final win over Hibernian to secure Ange Postecoglou’s first trophy in Scotland at his first attempt.

Kyogo Furuhashi was the hero with the Japan forward scoring two to help the Hoops complete a comeback after going 1-0 down to the Edinburgh side.

Rangers haven’t won the trophy since the 2010/11 season under Walter Smith when they beat Celtic 2-1 thanks to an extra-time winner by Nikica Jelavic.

Kilmarnock won it the following season, with the Hoops again the beaten finalists, and Aberdeen last lifted the League Cup following a final victory over Inverness Caley in the 13/14 season.

Celtic have dominated the tournament in recent years winning five of the last six.

Kilmarnock beat Dundee United 2-1 in the first of this week’s quarterfinals on Tuesday before Celtic beat Motherwell 4-0 in Wednesday’s early game.

Aberdeen followed that with a 4-1 win over Partick Thistle and Rangers finished the round off by beating Dundee 1-0 at Ibrox.