Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers praised Joe Hart바카라s mentality after his goalkeeper sealed a Scottish Gas Scottish Cup final place despite missing a penalty. (More Football News)
The Hampden crowd thought they had seen it all following a dramatic 3-3 draw between Celtic and Aberdeen, until Hart stepped up to take his side바카라s fifth penalty of the shoot-out at 4-3 up.
The former England goalkeeper, who celebrated his 37th birthday on Friday, hit the post himself before Aberdeen took the game into sudden death.
But Hart had the final say by saving Killian Phillips바카라 spot-kick to earn a 6-5 shoot-out win and set himself up to close the curtain on his career with a final against Rangers or Hearts on May 25.
Rodgers said: 바카라We were going through it in the last couple of days and he was one of the designated takers, for the fifth one.
바카라I think he is trying to get it as wide as he can, he sees their goalkeeper (Kelle Roos) is injured, he is trying to move him as much as he can in the goal.
바카라But he lets it go and comes up and makes the crucial save for us.
바카라Joe is very upbeat and positive. I always say to players to take risks, and he is a very good penalty taker, we see it in training.
바카라He has taken it, he has missed it, but he didn바카라t get down on himself, and ended up being the hero.바카라
An afternoon of drama started in two minutes when Bojan Miovski fired Aberdeen ahead.
Nicolas Kuhn levelled after stand-in Aberdeen skipper Angus MacDonald was caught in possession and James Forrest looked to have won the game for Celtic after scoring 90 seconds after coming off the bench.
But Ester Sokler headed home in the 90th minute and MacDonald equalised in the 119th minute from a near identical goal after Matt O바카라Riley had fired Celtic back in front in extra-time.
Rodgers, who maintained his perfect Hampden record on his 10th visit, said: 바카라It was a fantastic game. I said to the players, we don바카라t need football sessions over the next couple of days, we need therapy sessions after that. It will stand us in good stead going forward.
바카라Listen, it is part of the game, if you don바카라t close it out, then that can happen.
바카라We had to put it to one side, once we went to extra-time, and then didn바카라t quite see it through and then you have to focus on penalties, and what we worked on in the last couple of days. The players just had to commit to their side of the goal and they did that very well.바카라
Peter Leven missed the chance to lead Aberdeen out at Hampden in his final game as caretaker manager before the summer arrival of Jimmy Thelin, but his introduction of Sokler and Junior Hoillet, who set up two goals, sparked much of the drama.
Leven said: 바카라The boys were brilliant and gave us everything. We had very good chances against a very good Celtic team. I am gutted but proud of the boys.바카라
Aberdeen had two notable penalty claims, once when Liam Scales was ruled to have handled just outside the box and a later one when Hoilett was felled by Cameron Carter-Vickers only to be penalised for an aerial challenge seconds earlier.
Leven said: 바카라The fourth official said to me 바카라it바카라s a penalty but there might have been a collision before that바카라, so they were checking that first. They gave the foul.바카라
Hart was not the only goalkeeper to be at the centre of drama in the shoot-out. Roos went down and needed treatment after the first seven penalties were scored, before Ryan Duncan hit the post following a long delay to set up Hart바카라s first chance to win it.
바카라I think he got cramp,바카라 Leven said of his keeper. 바카라We were trying to tell Ryan to get away from Joe Hart, I don바카라t know if Joe Hart was trying to get into his head. But two academy graduates, Ryan Duncan and Jack Milne, stepping up to take a penalty; I am proud of them.바카라
