Daizen at the double as Celtic pick up all three points

His pressure on the St Mirren goalkeeper in last weekend’s semi-final led to a goal within the first minute, and with similar relentless intent this evening, he pressured Falkirk defender Keelan Adams and won the ball back 25 yards from goal before firing a first-time shot beyond Hogarth, making it 1-0 to Celtic.

With half time approaching, Kieran Tierney doubled Celtic’s lead with a blistering strike which rattled the underside of the crossbar on its way in.

Once again, Daizen Maeda played a pivotal role, spinning on the edge of the box to buy himself some space before playing the ball through for Kieran Tierney, who needed no invitation to unleash his shot and fire Celtic into a two-goal lead.

Ten minutes in to the second half, the Hoops put together a quick counter-attack which saw Callum McGregor carry the ball half the length of the pitch before slipping the ball to Kieran Tierney. He then found James Forrest, but the winger was unable to hit the target from inside the area.

Moments later, Yang had the ball in the back of the net after a clever pass from Benjamin Nygren. Yang’s initial shot was saved, but he put the ball beyond the keeper with a header on the rebound. The offside flag was raised, however, bringing a swift end to the celebrations.

With an hour gone, Martin O’Neill made his first change of the evening, bringing James Forrest off and replacing him with Sebastian Tounekti.

The visitors went close to pulling a goal back in the 65th minute when Kyrell Wilson sent the ball towards Barney Stewart at the front post, but the Falkirk forward was unable to hit the target.

The away side’s next attack saw them cut the deficit. A long ball from Leon McCann reached Kyrell Wilson on the right wing. He did well to bring the ball under control and produced a fine finish beyond Sinisalo.

Martin O’Neill made three changes immediately after the goal, bringing Kieran Tierney, Yang and Anthony Ralston off for Marcelo Saracchi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alistair Johnston, with the latter making his long-awaited return after a lengthy recovery from injury.

There was one further change for the Hoops with 12 minutes to go, with Callum McGregor making way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In the 82nd minute, Daizen Maeda restored Celtic’s two-goal advantage with a tidy finish from inside the box. Sebastian Tounekti sent a low ball across Falkirk’s penalty area which reached Maeda and he found the bottom corner with conviction to make it 3-1 to Celtic.

Fixtures

Celtic Vs. Falkirk - Sat, Apr 25th 2026, 17:30 Final score: 3 - 1