Most of the talk before the game was of the Celtic team, many forecasting Martin O'Neill would field a shadow side from the team who played against Liverpool last Thursday night.
However, O'Neill made only one change to that starting eleven. Paul Lambert came in for Stan Petrov, who was garbage on Thursday.
Celtic started the game in a dominant way. All the possession was ours, but the first chance came to Rangers, Joos Valgaeren cleared de Boer's lob from 2 yards out.
Rangers took a surprise lead ten minutes later, when some laughable Celtic defending was exposed by a long ball by de Boer, Cannigia tapped in the rebound off Rab Douglas.
Celtic seemed to be all over the place, and Rangers scored a second with 35 minutes gone. Johan Mjallby and the rest of the Celtic defence were once again caught sleeping by a hit and hope ball by Rangers, and Lovenkrands gave Douglas no chance with the finish.
Celtic's heads were surely not down, and Henrik Larsson could have pulled one back just before the end of the first half, when a mistake by Amoruso allowed John Hartson to set Henrik up, a top save by Klos denied the King of Kings.
The talk in the Hampden stands at half-time was that Celtic didn't have a chance in the second half, but the Bhoys came out and proved everyone wrong.
Right from the second half kick-off, Celtic looked more up for it. Larsson missed a chance in the 51st minute when his shot just went past the post.
Celtic's pressure paid off several minutes later, when an Alan Thompson corner was headed in by Henrik Larsson.
Celtic now had to go for it, and did so when Larrson slipped a ball through to Hartson, the big Welshman made no mistake about chipping it into the back of the net. However, the cheating linesman on the right-hand side called it offside, when television pictures clearly show Hartson was a yard on. Once again, Rangers have been saved by the SFA officials - when is this farce going to stop?
Rangers managed their only decent chance at goal soon after, when Rab Douglas was called into action from a Cannigia shot.
Celtic then had a good claim for a penalty, Henrik Larsson was brought down from behind by Amoruso in the box, but scumbag referee Kenny Clark turned the claim down. He then sent off Neil Lennon for his second bookable offence in the space of a few minutes, for a stupid fould on Arveladze. Lennon's actions were crazy and he should think before doing such things at such a crucial opint in a cup final.
Celtic's dominance should have paid off with 1 minute of the 90 remaining. The Outstanding Bobo Balde was brought down by persistent fouler Amoruso, who tried to protest his innocence by wrapping his fingers round his eyes like a muppet.
Amazingly, John Hartson stepped forward to take the resulting penalty. I think Henrik Larsson must have let him try to make up for the goal that Hartson was cheated of getting earlier on. Hartson didn't even hit the target with the spot-kick - an absoloute disgrace for an international striker.
A word must be said about the Celtic 'supporters' who left the ground as soon as Hartson missed the penalty. This is an absoloute disgrace when the 4th official had indicated that 5 minutes of stoppage time had to be played. These people should really take a look at themselves, and decide whether or not they want to cheer the team on for the duration of the game - if not, they should leave the tickets for people who will.
The final whistle brought cheers from the flag-waving racists in the West side of the ground.
Dissapointed with the result, and angry with the cheating match officials, but at the end of the day, we won the most important game last Saturday. If Celtic play like they did today on Thursday night, we will see ourselves in the semi-finals of the UEFA cup, the huns can keep their CIS cup!
Celtic:
Douglas - 7
Balde - 9
Mjallby - 7 (Petrov 88) - 6
Valgaren - 7
Smith - 7 (Sylla 66) - 8
Lennon - 7
Lambert - 9
Sutton - 7 (Maloney 80) - 6
Thompson - 8
Larsson - 9
Hartson - 7
Celtic-Mad Man of the Match - PAUL LAMBERT