| Event | 2019–20 Scottish Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Celtic won 4–3 onpenalties[1] | |||||||
| Date | 20 December 2020 (2020-12-20) | ||||||
| Venue | Hampden Park,Glasgow | ||||||
| Referee | John Beaton | ||||||
| Attendance | 0 | ||||||
←2019 2021 → | |||||||
The2020 Scottish Cup final was the 135th final of theScottish Cup and the final of the2019–20 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockoutfootball competition in Scotland. Played on 20 December 2020, the final was won by holdersCeltic in apenalty shootout to beatHeart of Midlothian after the match ended 3–3 after extra time, claiming an unprecedented fourth successive domestictreble. The same teams had contested the2019 Scottish Cup Final.[1][2]
The match was originally scheduled to take place atHampden Park on 9 May 2020,[3] but was postponed before the semi-finals being played with no alternative date proposed at that point, as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.[4] On 21 July, the final was rescheduled for 20 December.[5]
On 1 May 2020,UEFA confirmed that the final would have to be played before the end of the 2019–20 season in early July in order to activate the usual place in the2020–21 UEFA Europa League for the winners, with the qualification spot instead going to the team finishing fourth in the2019–20 Scottish Premiership (either with fixtures completed or placings declared). That would adversely impactHeart of Midlothian orHibernian who were due to meet in one semi-final and had no other route to European football, whereas in the other semi-finalCeltic were certain to qualify for Europe from their position at the top of the league table, and fourth-placedAberdeen had possibilities to do so either if the league continued and they climbed to third, or if Celtic won the Cup and its entry passed to the league.[6] On 22 May, theScottish Football Association indicated their preference to complete the competition but to wait until such a time as spectators would be allowed to attend, primarily for financial reasons with three large attendances expected at the remaining matches.[7] The Premiership standings at the time of postponement were declared final[8] and three Europa League places, including one for Aberdeen, were duly allocated from the league.
On 9 December 2020, an offer by Inverness Caledonian Thistle Chairman, Scot Gardiner, to host the final at the Caledonian Stadium in then, Tier 1 Restriction, Inverness, in order to allow 150 fans from the Highlands and Moray of either club to attend, was rejected by the SFA on the basis the Scottish Cup has a commitment to be held at Hampden, and that Celtic and Hearts, as well as broadcasters BBC and Premier Sports wouldn't be accepting of the change in venue.[9][10] Had the offer been accepted, it would've been the first time since 2014 that a final had been held outside Hampden, and the first time since 1896 that the tournament's final would've been held outside Glasgow.
Before the game, Hearts announced they would honour their former Cup-winning captainMarius Žaliūkas after his untimely death by having every player wear his number 26 on their shorts.[11] The match was playedbehind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a bright start by Hearts, Celtic began to create more opportunities, and in the 19th minuteRyan Christie scored with a curling left-footed shot from outside the penalty area, very similar to the goal he scored against Aberdeen in the semi-final, and occurring at nearly the same time.[12] As in that match, Celtic scored a second goal fairly quickly, via a penalty converted byOdsonne Édouard in aPanenka style, after an accidental but clear handball by Hearts captainChristophe Berra.[2]
Facing a tough task to get back into the contest, theEdinburgh side pulled a goal back early in the second half throughLiam Boyce, and pulled level on 67 minutes from another header, this time byStephen Kingsley; the ball crossed the line in mid-air by a matter of centimetres before being cleared by Christie, and the point was awarded by the referee via his wrist-worn goal detection device.[2]
In the final moments of the first period of extra time, Celtic captainScott Brown's header was parried at close range byCraig Gordon andLeigh Griffiths turned the ball home to give theGlasgow side the lead again. With nine minutes remaining in the second period, Kingsley sent the ball across the Celtic goalmouth andJosh Ginnelly, who had chances to score earlier, found the net to square the contest at 3–3.[2]
In the penalty shootout, Christie was the first player to fail, veteran goalkeeper Gordon diving to his right to save, but inexperienced counterpartConor Hazard then stopped attempts from Kingsley andCraig Wighton.Kristoffer Ajer converted the last kick for a 4–3 outcome from the spot, sealing a historic fourth consecutive Scottish Cup and a twelfth domestic trophy in succession for Celtic.[2][1]
All six goals and the shootout took place at the same (west) end of the stadium. The six goals scored tied the highest total since seven were scored in1991; the two others both involved Hearts: a 5–1 loss toRangers in1996 and a victory overHibernian by the same scoreline in2012. No losing team had scored three times sinceDundee United in 1991. Celtic managerNeil Lennon became the first person to win thedomestic treble in Scotland as both a player and coach, having first achieved the feat with the same club in2000–01.[13] Celtic became the first team to use six substitutions (five under temporary COVID-19 regulations and one additional change in extra time which was widely adopted two years earlier)[14] in a major competition in Scottish football.
          Celtic |      Heart of Midlothian |
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Match rules
BBC Scotland andPremier Sports had the rights to broadcast the final, in what was the second season of a six-year deal in the United Kingdom to broadcastScottish Cup matches from the fourth round onward.[15]
Finals played between same clubs:
