| Match Pictures | Matches: 1996 – 1997 | 1996-1997 Pictures |
Trivia
- Tommy Burns appeal against the touchline ban was heard and was reduced from 12 to 7 months. The fine was kept the same though at £2000.
- This meant TB would not be able to stand on the touchline until 27th September 1997.
- There was the hex to break – league or otherwise against Rangers. And for us….. it was 92 years since Rangers had last defeated Celtic in a Scottish Cup tie at Celtic Park.
Review
Joy and Bliss!!!! A win against the Huns!!! Finally!
…and a penalty from McCluskey!
A remarkable night and through to the semi final.
Teams
Celtic:
Kerr; Annoni, McKinlay, McNamara, MacKay, Grant, Di Canio (Thom, 45), McStay, Stubbs, O'Donnell (Hannah, 89), Cadete.
Non Used Sub: Van Hooijdonk,
Scorers: MacKay (10), Di Canio (18, pen)
Bookings: Annoni ,Stubbs
Rangers:
Goram, Cleland (Durrant, 85), Robertson, Petric, McLaren, Bjorklund, Moore, Ferguson, Bo Andersen (McCoist, 38), Albertz (Van Vossen), 65, Laudrup.
Bookings: Ferguson ,McLaren ,Robertson
Referee: J McCluskey (Stewarton).
Attendance: 49,519
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Rangers | |
| Bookings | 2 | 3 |
| Fouls | 9 | 15 |
| Shots on Target | 4 | 4 |
| Corners | 7 | 5 |
| Offside | 2 | 1 |
Articles
Round one to Celtic
The Scotsman 07/03/1997
Celtic 2 Mackay (11), Di Canio (18 pen)
Rangers 0
SOMEWHERE in the distance, the bell that was tolling for Celtic's season has stopped, at least temporarily.
The first win in ten games against Rangers has taken Tommy Burns' face off the wanted poster, the charge of being incapable of finding a side to beat his club's oldest rivals having been dropped.
Malky Mackay, a former bank clerk, and Paulo Di Canio, late of AC Milan, physically lifted the two-year-old monkey off Celtic's back.
There were to be no psychological problems this time. The messages that flashed from the brain to the feet were not transferred in a mood of panic, but carefully thought out to remove Rangers, the holders, from the Scottish Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Now, the next challenge is to avoid presumption. Celtic have eliminated Rangers from the competition on 12 occasions before the final in the past and still failed to go on to win the trophy.
It could be argued with a firm degree of conviction that Rangers, significantly reduced by injury, were disadvantaged to the point of disinterest by the end of the game.
Jorge Albertz had, for instance, gone off early after a lethargic performance, the "Hammer", as he is known, having been an inoffensive weapon before Peter Van Vossen took his place.
Celtic have waited too long to savour the heady feeling they knew at full time, though, to be bothered by logic.
The sides reconvene at the same ground in ten days for the final, lung-bursting effort of the Premier Division Championship.
Hope will spring eternal for the Celtic men. Rangers will surely ask for the return of their health and strength.
The only thing worse than bad news for a pessimistic supporter is good news.
Richard Gough's failure to be fit in time for the match, along with the loss of Gordon Durie because of injury, seemed too good to be true in terms of weakening Rangers in defence and attack.
Andy Goram was also said to have belatedly recovered from a rib injury suffered in training earlier in the day, but there were sufficient misgivings over the goalkeeper's health to have him out on the pitch for a fitness test 75 minutes before kick-off.
The final decision to play Goram was such a tight one that Theo Snelders' name was only removed from the list of substitutes and replaced by Van Vossen after the reserve goalkeeper had taken part in the pre-match warm-up. Enrico Annoni was called into action at the outset and the Italian showed all his experience in the third minute to clear the danger after a cross from Brian Laudrup.
Within 60 seconds, Celtic defender Tosh McKinlay needed treatment after a challenge by Craig Moore which went unpunished by referee Jim McCluskey.
The game sprung to life after seven minutes, and a catalogue of incidents led up to the first after ten minutes.
First Laudrup squandered an excellent opportunity to give Rangers what has become their customary lead in these matches when he took Albertz's pass in his stride but struck Stewart Kerr's legs with his final shot.
Then, when Phil O'Donnell put the ball over the bar from inside the six-yard box, legs that were paralysed by nerves seemed to be a contagious disorder.
Mackay wisely shunned the use of his feet to maximise the advantage of his height to give Celtic the lead.
A corner kick from Di Canio was met by Celtic's honest plodder and his near-post header saw Goram beaten for the first time in his last five visits to Celtic Park.
What was once a novelty for Rangers' goalkeeper, was made to look habit-forming when Celtic extended their lead in the 18th minute.
Jorge Cadete was brought down by Joachim Bjorklund, and Di Canio scored from the resultant penalty kick.
What is an Old Firm game these days without a controversial decision, however?
Mr McCluskey, whose heart was probably beating like a sledgehammer by then, threw in another couple of debatable decisions for good measure.
Di Canio was tripped by Alan McLaren and Cadete was stopped by Bjorklund in a fashion more heinous than the offence which had earlier won a penalty kick, but the referee was unconvinced.
Celtic had nevertheless gone into the match imploring the heavens for a goal of a start to work on and now they had two with the interval still a long way off.
It must have been hard for Tommy Burns to take. Celtic's manager was going through the equivalent of incarceration in the directors' box, having last night begun a six-month ban from the touchline for misconduct.
Meanwhile, out on the pitch, a Celtic team imprisoned by their past at the kick-off were digging an escape tunnel at a ferocious rate of knots.
Burns' feet would have been tapping in time to the endless choruses in praise of his side when Ian Ferguson was cautioned for a foul on Di Canio and Ally McCoist was brought on to replace Eric Bo Andersen, who was injured in a clash of heads with Alan Stubbs, and Di Canio was replaced by Andreas Thom for the second half.
As soon as Craig Moore wrestled him to the ground, which was before the German had touched the ball, he knew he had been given admission to the fray that was a test of Celtic's resolve. It had been so long since they had enjoyed the ascendancy in an Old Firm game, there had to be a doubt if they remembered how to negotiate a way to the final whistle.
David Robertson was the second Rangers player to be cautioned as the game entered its untidiest phase.
Indiscipline quickly turned into an epidemic thereafter, with Celtic's Stubbs and Annoni joining McLaren on the growing list of miscreants.
All pretence at subtlety had gone by then as players tumbled often two at a time, and the ball was fumbled .
All the while, the clock was ticking down and Goram remained the busier of the two goalkeepers.
Burns has said that when he passed on, his tombstone would refer to Rangers' goalkeeper having broken his heart. Not last night, though. Goram was having as bad a time as the rest of his side.
- Manager Interview
Tommy Burns
"I'm thrilled for our fans – they can go to work with a smile on their face.
"The players gave all they could and we had the breaks we needed at the right time.
"The team followed my instructions perfectly.
"We've shown we can play more than one way against Rangers.
"But it is only one win. The fact that it came against Rangers makes it a bit more special because it's a first for a lot of our players.
"We now need to get ourselves ready for our most important game of the season – not a week on Sunday but against Kilmarnock on Tuesday.
"The only drawback is that Paolo di Canio has a slight hamstring injury, possibly a tear, but we'll see about that tomorrow."
Walter Smith:
"Celtic claim they never get any decisions but they got this one.
"I hope this ends the Protestant conspiracy theory.
"Tonight shows Celtic can win if they play well enough.
"Celtic competed better than we did and deserved the victory.
"Strangely, they probably created fewer chances than in recent games against us when they've come away with nothing.
"Losing the first goal from a set piece was poor from our point of view and it was always going to be an uphill climb after that.
"Andy Goram had a rib injury but I don't think that inhibited him in any way – he had a painkilling injection before the kick-off."
Malky MacKay:
"Only my dad would have bet on me to score.
"I was 50/1 for the first goal and nobody but him would have had a bit of those odds.
"That was the best game of my life.
"I didn't need any motivation – every game for Celtic is like that for me.
"Scoring so early in front of 50,000 settled us down and there can't be many better feelings than that.
"It shocked me to get a free header for my goal, but I was surprised all the way through the game with the space we had.
"We had a couple of penalty claims turned down but don't forget that Stewart Kerr made a vital save at 0-0 – it was an unbelievable stop from Brian Laudrup.
"Someone said afterwards that it didn't look as though Rangers were fighting. But from where I was standing they gave it as much as we did.
"Once we went 2-0 up we made sure we kept possession and stuck to the task Tommy Burns set us.
"This has given us a great lift. You just have to look at the crowd to see that."
Paul McStay:
"We had the self-belief we needed.
"Beating Rangers was a hurdle we had to overcome. We've now got to believe we can go on to win the Scottish Cup AND the Championship.
"The pressure was on us to turn this thing around.
"We put in a lot of effort and our attitude was bang on. We went ahead early on and contained them well after that.
"It was a double hurdle – to get into the semis and also to get rid of that jinx."