Celtic vow to weed out team news mole as Brendan Rodgers has pointed message for culprit

Not even disappointment at his team being leaked for the second successive match could dampen Brendan Rodgers’ delight at seeing Celtic hit Aberdeen for six at Hampden.

The Parkhead side must now wait for the outcome of Sunday’s semi-final between Rangers and Motherwell to learn who they meet in the final of the Premier Sports Cup back at the national stadium next month.

Neither team can surely live with Celtic in such blistering form. Even Aberdeen, the champions’ closest challengers so far this season, wilted in the face of their relentlessness.

Daizen Maede struck his second hat-trick for the club and Kyogo Furuhashi, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Nicolas Kuhn scored the other goals to hand the Pittodrie side their biggest-ever defeat at Hampden.

Brendan Rodgers can see the funny side as he slips during Celtic's win over Aberdeen. | SNS Group

Despite this, Rodgers resisted calling it his side's best performance of the season. "I think there were moments where, especially in the first half, we were too slow on the ball," he said. On one occasion, while seeking to up the pace, he even kicked the ball back onto the pitch before slipping over to cheers. He was then booked by referee Kevin Clancy for stopping Aberdeen taking a quick throw-in. "To be fair, it was well-deserved," he said. "I shouldn't have been falling over there. I think it was because I kicked the ball on the pitch. But I think we'll appeal the yellow card - I'm only joking, by the way!"

Rodgers made six changes to the team that had defeated Dundee 2-0 on Wednesday. These alterations were already circulating on social media before official confirmation came just over an hour before kick-off. Likewise, the six changes to the side that faced Dundee were also heavily trailed beforehand.

The manager has promised to weed out the mole and has warned the Celtic supporter doing the leaking – if it is indeed a Celtic supporter – that they are potentially hurting the club.

“It's obviously clearly disappointing,” he said. “I think it's something that we've seen before. And it's not ideal, however it comes out. In the modern game, there's no real secrets in football. That's the reality of it. But it's not nice when it gets out there, especially if it's out from Celtic supporters. 

"It might feel great for someone's ego to put it out and pass it on to other people," he added. "But I can tell you as a manager that I've had that before with other teams. And when I've got to know about it, it has really, really helped me in my preparation. Because I've come up with a plan to play against a team. I've then been told the day before the game that the team was going to play a totally different shape. I could then stick in an extra meeting that night at the hotel to say, 'this is what we think that team is going to do because we've had a message'. And then, lo and behold, we go in the next day and the team is playing that shape. It has really helped us to win the game.

“So whoever is putting it out, if it's someone from Celtic, you're not a Celtic supporter. You're not a Celtic supporter because you're not helping Celtic. It's as simple as that. If you're not a Celtic supporter, we will do everything we can to find out. But for me, I don't get angry about it. It's just something that's in the modern world now, isn't it? There's so much communication.”

Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates his side's 5-0 thrashing of Aberdeen inn the Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden Park. Cr: SNS Group. | SNS Group

Prior knowledge or otherwise, there was little Aberdeen could hope to do to halt a Celtic team showing such a level of intensity on the slick Hampden surface.

It was, though, still a surprise to see Aberdeen come apart to the extent they did as Jimmy Thelin suffered his first defeat as Aberdeen manager in the 17th game of his reign. He urged his team to bounce back against Dundee at a packed Pittodrie next weekend. “It's not a happy moment for anyone who has been in a football club when they lose 6-0 in a semi-final here,” he said. “But the game is over. We are out. And the most important thing for us now is how you act when you have setbacks.”