Celtic 2-0 Rangers - as it happened

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on BBC Radio Scotland: "I thought in general we were outstanding, we started with real good composure, good control, and we were really dominating every aspect of the first-half.

"We then showed the quality of our counterattack with our speed, and we then get the penalty for 2-0. But over the course of the game I thought we were excellent.

"As a whole, the Rangers game is a huge, big-pressure game, and how the players coped with that and the quality they showed was outstanding.

"I’m delighted for them because it was a difficult one for them here 12 months ago [in last year's semi-final loss to Rangers], and the aftermath of that, but they’ve really showed in many big games this season, today included, how they’ve been improving and how they’re working well.

"We’ll get Moussa Dembele scanned; it looks like a hamstring injury. But we had the ideal guy to come on in Leigh Griffiths. He looks like he’ll score in every game he plays, and he made a great run in our counterattack that led to the penalty.

"I'll only talk about what the treble means afterwards, if we do it. It was a target; we’re one game away from a real historic season now, but we’ve still got a few games to play before that.

"We’re playing against a very, very good Aberdeen team with an outstanding manager in Derek McInnes. He’s done an outstanding job and we’ve always had difficult games against them.

"But we prepare ourselves to win, we don’t think about losing and being too disappointed with that, our plan is to win games and we find ways to do that. So that’ll be a really good final, and I’m sure if we can play as well as we did in the League Cup final, or like we did today, it could be a great day for us, but there's a lot of work to do between now and then."

SNSCopyright: SNS

Can't wait for Sportscene at six o'clock this evening on BBC Two? Why, get on to Facebook at 15:00 to hear the views of pundits Steven Thompson and Michael Stewart.

Highlights of the Old Firm match will be on the BBC Sport website early this evening. You can watch it on BBC Two Scotland's Sportscene from 18:00 BST.

Celtic captain Scott Brown on BBC Radio Scotland: "It was a very professional performance from start to finish.

"We knew the last five, 10 minutes they were going to put a lot of pressure on us but we dealt with that really, really well, and could have scored a couple more goals.

"It’s great pace from Leigh Griffiths for the second goal as well – great ball down the line, wee touch, we got a penalty and sometimes when you’re under the cosh and you’ve got people like Patrick Roberts to control the game and Leigh to run in behind, it’s a phenomenal feeling and a great win for the fans as well.

"People are scared of our counterattack if they press us high up the park, we’ve got a lot of pace and people that can pick passes.

"When you bring on people like Tom Rogic and James Forrest, it shows you what a top-quality bench we have got and everyone’s fighting for a first-team place and it’s the way it should be at Celtic.

"We’ve got five games before the final. Aberdeen have done really well to get to the final; they’re a great team but so are we. If we turn up on the day you know what can happen. It showed today.

"We fancy our chances in every game, but we need to make sure we keep hitting those heights in the next five games. Everyone’s playing for a place in the cup final now."

SNSCopyright: SNS

Celtic goalscorer Scott Sinclair on BBC Radio Scotland: "Everyone’s delighted, it’s one of the best team performances we’ve had all season. We’ve reached the final now, and hopefully we can get the cup.

"Before the game, we said to ourselves if we set out the first 10 minutes at 100%, keep the ball and create chances, there’s no doubt we’ll win the game.

"We didn’t play our best football in the last derby, so today we had to put it right, and we did.

"You guys always talk about [the treble], but we’ve got to keep doing what we’ve been doing, take it every game as it comes, and hopefully we can carry it right on until the end of the season.

"That’s the team belief and the winning mentality the manager has instilled in the players. Every time we step on to the pitch, we give it 100%, no slacking, get results, and keeping winning games.

"It goes right through the squad, even the players coming off the bench, you can see we’re a proper team. It’s great to be a part of.

"It’s always much sweeter to do it against your rivals, but we go into the final now and make sure we do it again."

SNSCopyright: SNS

Quote Message: Those late chances will give Rangers hope ahead of their Old Firm league meeting at Ibrox on Saturday, but Celtic's victory was well earned and their treble dream remains very firmly on track

Those late chances will give Rangers hope ahead of their Old Firm league meeting at Ibrox on Saturday, but Celtic's victory was well earned and their treble dream remains very firmly on track

Read Tom's match report

SNSCopyright: SNS

"Rangers Football Club had one corner, I think it was in 61 minutes, in an Old Firm match. That tells you something."

After the match, Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha told Sky Sports: "It was a flat performance from us.

"The key player in the first half was Scott (Brown). In the second half the key was that we conceded so early.

"They deserved to win."

Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd on BBC Radio Scotland: "From a Rangers perspective, there were a lot of them running about not looking like they knew exactly what they were doing.

"There was no structure. The first goal, Andy Halliday runs and takes himself out of position to go and press somebody up the pitch. The ball over the top takes him out of the game, and all of a sudden, Callum McGregor’s running, facing the Rangers defence and taps in.

"The back four, defensively looked like they knew what they were doing because they were there as a back four. But anywhere else, I thought there was a change every couple of minutes – Kenny Miller was on the right, then the left, then Martyn Waghorn was through the middle.

"In a game like this especially, under Walter Smith we always knew exactly we were doing. We were rigid, we were hard to break down, and I don’t really think that was the case today."

SNSCopyright: SNS

BBC Scotland football pundit Willie Miller: "I thought the first half from Rangers was too pedestrian. They made it too easy for Celtic. They allowed Celtic to dominate. They haven't laid a glove on Celtic until the last 20 minutes and by then it was too late. At least they put Celtic under a bit of pressure. Celtic are a fabulous side. Scott Brown bossed throughout in the midfield and that was an area Rangers really disappointed in. At the back, for the first goal the long ball should have been dealt with by the centre-backs. Celtic were by far the better team and deserve to be in the final."

"For about three-quarters of the game, I thought Celtic were in complete control. I thought they moved the ball, passed the ball, the options they had, moving it from back to front – maybe the only criticism was that they didn’t create enough chances in that period. Celtic just made the game look so easy.

"And then somehow Rangers got into the game – whether that was down to Rangers, or to Celtic taking their foot off the gas and getting sloppy, it allowed Rangers to get some really good opportunities."

William McMillan on Facebook: "Rangers are going to have recruit recruit recruit for next season...really poor display. Dreadful Old Firm game that would put you to sleep for the neutrals. And too much of one sided game from a very World Class deserved Celtic team. Can't see Rangers side improving with a team like that."  

"Celtic were very, very good when they needed to be. A fine opening goal, a stonewall penalty, they created a couple of other chances that could’ve been goals.

"There will be some crumbs for Rangers going into the game at weekend that they created chances at the end. If they can learn from the mistakes they made earlier in the match, they might do something at Ibrox.

"They will look at that and think, we can create against this Celtic team, we just need to get it right from the start, and I don’t think their accuracy or intensity was anywhere like what they should have been.

"But then again, they were coming up against a team that are, man for man, much better than they are. And Celtic had too many guns for Rangers."