Celtic get ready to go on the road again in the league as they travel to Edinburgh to take on Nick Montgomery’s Hibs side at Easter Road this afternoon.
The team will be high in confidence following an encouraging mid-week European display against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, but Brendan Rodgers will remember the fact that he is still winless at Easter Road in his three trips there as Celtic manager.
Two defeats and a draw make up those three games, but despite the less-than-convincing record at the Hibees’ home ground, there were plenty of memorable wins against Hibs from Rodgers’ first tenure as Celtic boss.
Hibernian 2-4 Celtic // Scottish League Cup semi-final // 21st October 2017
Celtic reached the first final of the season as they recorded a highly-entertaining victory over the Hibees at Hampden Park.
The first two goals came from the same player and unexpected source, as Mikael Lustig pounced upon individual errors from the Hibs backline to put Celtic 2-0 up going into the break.
Anthony Stokes brought Hibs within touching distance with a second-half penalty, but Celtic swiftly restored that two-goal cushion thanks to a goal from French forward Mosusa Dembele.
Hibs again bounced back with Oli Shaw making it 3-2, but it was the Frenchman Dembele who was on hand once again to make it 4-2 and take Celtic into the final.
Celtic 4-2 Hibernian // Scottish Premiership // 20th October 2018
Celtic were dominant on this day, and secured the three points despite Hibs’ best efforts in the second-half.
Celtic had already hit the woodwork twice by the time Tom Rogic scored a typical effort from the edge of the box after eight minutes. Did the big Aussie ever score a bad goal? Every one of his 46 Celtic goals seemed to possess an element of that magic dust that Rogic effortlessly sprinkled during his time at Celtic, and this goal was no different.
The enigmatic Olivier Ntcham doubled Celtic’s lead after just 20 minutes, with Rogic turning creator and Ntcham calmly placing the ball beyond Ádám Bogdán.
Florian Kamberi gave Hibs a lifeline just after the hour mark before Odsonne Edouard restored the two-goal lead on 70 minutes. Martin Boyle again brought Hibs within a goal of the home side but, just like the game at Hampden the previous year, it was a brace from a Frenchman that secured the win as Edouard’s late goal made the points safe with his second of the game.
Celtic 2-0 Hibernian // Scottish Premiership // 6th February 2019
Celtic had made a whole host of loan signings in January 2019 in an effort to inject some life into the team, and Brendan Rodgers’ side continued their positive start to the year with a win in this Wednesday night fixture.
Ryan Christie was having a good season in the 2018/19 campaign and he was the man to put Celtic in front before none other than Oliver Burke latched on to an incisive Christie pass to put Celtic two ahead shortly after the hour mark, which was enough to secure the win on the night.
Astonishingly, Oliver Burke, still only 26, is Scottish football’s most expensive footballer of all time, with an accumulation of transfer fees currently totalling €36.90m.
JAMES MCKENZIE // Follow James HERE
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