Scottish Cup Derby Preview

Over the next few days, Hampden Park is set to be engulfed in seas of green, white, maroon and blue. 

Two colossal derbies will take place at the national stadium this weekend as Hearts play Hibs and Rangers take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals. 

It is the first time in the competition’s history that both the Edinburgh and Glasgow giants make up the last four and in this article, I’ll be previewing what’s set to be a feisty few days in Glasgow’s Southside as they face off for a place in the showpiece final on the 21st of May. 

Hearts v Hibs

The first of the two colossal semi finals sees the Edinburgh derby take place in Glasgow. 

Hearts and Hibs faced off against each other just last weekend in a rare Saturday 3 o’clock Edinburgh Derby and it was the former who tasted victory. 

The Jambos ended their city rivals’ top six aspirations in a 3-1 win as they secured third place in the Scottish Premiership with five games to spare. An Andy Halliday double partnered with a Stephen Kingsley strike helped cancel out an early Drey Wright goal to put Hibs to the sword. 

Keeping on with the Hibees and they have yet to taste victory since the match which saw them reach this stage of the Scottish Cup. An Elias Melkersen double saw Shaun Maloney’s team run out 2-1 victors at Fir Park in a feisty affair. That day, we seen glimpses of what the Scot is trying to implement at Hibs however it is fair to say that has been limited in his time at the club with the Easter Road team winning just six games out of the eighteen Maloney has been in charge for - it should be noted three of these victories have come in the Scottish Cup though. 

Hibs are definitely a cup team and this is their eighth visit to Hampden in the past three seasons. They will be looking to make it nine come Saturday at noon and salvage what has been an underwhelming season up to this point. 

Hearts however, will have other ideas and piling yet more agony on to their arch-rivals and reaching their third Scottish Cup final in four years will be of optimum importance going into this weekend. 

An added motivation for both teams going into this one will be the European aspect to the game. As taken from journalist Barry Anderson on Twitter, as it stands, the winner of the Scottish Cup will earn a Europa League play off place and even if they lose said play off, they will drop into the Europa Conference League group stages meaning the winner of the Scottish Cup is guaranteed European group stage football, regardless of what competition it is in. Furthermore if the winner of the Scottish Cup is already competing in the Champions League (such like Celtic and Rangers will be), the Scottish Cup’s European spot goes to third place in the league, a position Hearts have already secured so should the Jambos win this semi-final, they will be guaranteed European group stage football whereas Hibs would have to win the semi, and the final, to do so. 

In terms of the match itself, it is hard to see past a Hearts victory with the form Robbie Neilson’s side have been on this season. However, if Hibs can play to the best of their abilities and the likes of Elias Melkersen and Sylvester Jasper are on form, this semi-final could undoubtedly be an entertaining match up. 

Ones to Watch - Barrie McKay and Elias Melkersen

We’ll begin with Barrie McKay as we look at two players to watch in this match. 

The former Rangers midfielder has been a highly creative asset in Hearts’ midfield this season, registering ten assists across all competitions however recently, Barrie McKay has begun to add goals to his game. 

He scored a beautiful volley against Livingston in the league and followed that up two weeks later with a near-post finish from inside the box up in Dingwall. 

The twenty seven year old is central to most things Hearts do in attack and will be looking to repay the faith the club have shown in him after he signed a new three year deal last Friday come this weekend. 

I have picked out Elias Melkersen as one to keep an eye for Hibs in this semi-final tie. As alluded to earlier, the only two goals he’s scored for the club came in the previous round of the Scottish Cup against Motherwell as Melkersen firstly nodded home at the front post to give the Hibees an early lead and secondly, deftly controlled a sublime Sylvester Jasper pass to fire low and hard past Liam Kelly in the 2-1 win. 

Since said victory, the teenager has started every game for his side, not going short of chances and Shaun Maloney will be hoping Melkersen can take any that come his way on Saturday. 

Celtic v Rangers 

When they face off on Easter Sunday, Scotland’s biggest two teams will know who awaits them in the 2022 Scottish Cup final. 

The last meeting of Celtic and Rangers was only twelve days ago however in the small world of Scottish football, it admittedly seems like an age since Cameron Carter-Vickers rattled home at Ibrox to send Celtic six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership. 

After the game, Celtic played just once against St. Johnstone. The Hoops put on a show in the Parkhead sunshine that day, running out 7-0 winners. Goals from Reo Hatate, Georgios Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda, Josip Juranovic, Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada helped round off one of the most complete performances of Ange Postecoglou’s time in charge of the club so far. 

On the other side of the Glasgow divide since the last derby, Rangers travelled to Portugal, Paisley and back to Ibrox as they played out their Europa League quarter final with Braga either side of a league encounter with St. Mirren. The Gers would lose by a goal to nil in the first leg with Braga in a lacklustre away display however they got back to form the following Sunday against St. Mirren.

A Kemar Roofe hat-trick coupled with a Joe Aribo stunner helped the Gers to a 4-0 league win, easing some pressure on Giovanni van Bronckhorst. 

They then went into the second leg with Braga in an optimistic manner and Rangers’ hopes were raised early on with a James Tavernier strike. The captain then put them in front in the tie just before half time from the spot however Braga would take the tie to extra time through a late equaliser. The Gers’ would pound the Braga goal in the final half hour and the pressure finally paid off when Kemar Roofe tapped into an empty net to send Ibrox stadium into delirium. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men would eventually hold out against the nine men of Braga and make it into the Europa League semi finals where they will take on RB Leipzig. 

To reach said stage of the competition is a massive achievement in itself for Rangers although there will surely be concerns over fatigue and the like going into the semi final after they played not only an extra game than Celtic but an added thirty minutes on top of that since the last round of league fixtures. 

After winning the past two derbies, Celtic are surely favourites going into this one. They are undefeated domestically ever since their 1-0 loss to Livingston back in September and their contrasting performances in the last two games against Rangers amply show how Ange Postecoglou is finding a range of ways to win football matches with this Celtic side. 

Moreover, the return to fitness of talisman Kyogo Furuhashi after he played a part in the defeat of St. Johnstone, provides the Bhoys with yet another boost going into this one. Also, with the Hoops flying high at the top of the league and the League Cup already in the bag, murmurs of a potential treble in Ange Postecoglou’s first season as manager are beginning to mount and the upcoming semi-final with Rangers is a must win if Celtic are to achieve such a feat. 

Nonetheless, confidence in the Rangers camp will be sky high after they recently made it into the last four of the Europa League. The Gers should in no way be underestimated and if they can find performance levels similar to that of their previous two matches, this game will be a highly competitive one. 

Ones to Watch - Matt O’Riley and Kemar Roofe

For Celtic, I’ve elected to pick Matt O’Riley as a player you should be keeping an eye on in Sunday’s derby. The Dane bagged a brace off the bench against St. Johnstone, finishing off two excellent moves with a diving header and wonderful strike respectively. 

The twenty one year old has caught the eye in his short time at Celtic so far, scoring three goals and assisting two. He also has experience in Glasgow Derbies already, playing eighty-eight minutes in Celtic’s 3-0 win at Parkhead as well as making a substitute appearance at Ibrox a few weeks ago. 

It is unclear whether or not O’Riley will get the nod on Sunday with the stern competition he faces in the Celtic midfield however if Ange Postecoglou is looking to take advantage of the large Hampden pitch and Rangers’ potential fatigue from Thursday’s Europa League tie, O’Riley may well start ahead of someone like Tom Rogic, in spite of the Australian’s goal in the previous meeting with Rangers. 

For the Ibrox side, one player I’ve earmarked is Kemar Roofe. After it was confirmed a few weeks ago Alfredo Morelos was going to miss the remainder of the 21/22 season through injury, Kemar Roofe has had to step up. And step up the Jamaican has, scoring four goals in his last two starts. 

The aforementioned hat-trick along with his strike against Braga has helped the twenty nine year old’s stock to rise however after his man of the match display against St. Mirren, Roofe emphatically stated: “I have nothing to prove”. 

It will most definitely be Roofe who gets the nod up front for Rangers on Sunday and if he does, he will be keen to add to his stately goal tally of late in of the biggest derbies in world football. 

Whatever happens in the two semi-finals, it will be a clash of Scotland’s two biggest cities to find out the next destination of the Scottish Cup. 

Edinburgh and Glasgow will be tense places over the weekend however on the pitch, there will be no shortage of fervency as we find out the teams who will fight it out for the Scottish Cup in the grand finale on the 21st of May. 

Thank you for reading this article. If you have any thoughts or opinions, leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Josh_Footblog for more

Scottish football content.