By Dominic McColgan

Sunday February 26 marks the 16th cup final meeting between the Old Firm Rangers and Celtic at Hampden Park. 

The game at Hampden is looking set to be a cracker with previous fixtures having had a similar script of being loaded with passion and controversy.

UWS Newsroom looked back at the last four fiery encounters between Glasgow’s big two in the League Cup Final

Celtic 1-0 Rangers, December 8, 2019

Neil Lennon’s Celtic beat an upcoming and growing formidable challenger to their current title domination in the form of  Steven Gerard’s Rangers team.  

Rangers started the stronger out of the two sides with Celtic goalkeeper, Frazer Forster being called into action more than once throughout the game.  

Celtic took the lead at the hour mark when French defender Christopher Jullien diverted a free-kick cross from close range.  Rangers had a chance to quickly reply with an equaliser from a penalty after Jeremy Frimpong had impeded striker Alfredo Morelos in the box.  

The Columbian took the penalty himself and was saved from Frazer Forster.  Celtic held on to lift their 19^th league cup trophy.

Rangers 2-1 Celtic, March 20, 2011

Sunday March 20, 2011 was the last time the Ibrox Club lifted the trophy, which was a dominant era for the club having won 3 league titles between 2008-2011.  

Rangers took the lead from Steven Davis with a 20-yard strike. Celtic’s welsh midfielder Joe Ledley had made it all square from a header. 

The game went to extra time with both sides looking for the winning goal. Croatian striker, Nikita Jelavic latched onto a free kick, putting it past Fraser Forster to give Rangers their 27 league cup trophy. 

Celtic 2-0 Rangers, March 15, 2009

The Glasgow sides failed to score during the 90 minutes thanks to some spectacular saves from Rangers’ Alan McGregor and Celtic’s  Artur Boruc. 

Celtic took the lead early in the first half of extra time when defender Darren O’Dea headed over Alan McGregor to make it 1-0 to the Parkhead side.

 The hoops had guaranteed the unknown destination of the 2008-09 trophy after Aiden Mcgeady had earned and scored a penalty at the dying stages of extra time.  

Rangers 2-1 Celtic, March 16, 2003

Rangers had gained a 2-0 lead by halftime with two goals from Claudio Caniggia and Peter Lovenkrands. This set the tone for the second half, which turned out to be a thriller.

 Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored to give the Celtic fans hope.  

Martin O’Neil’s side pressure had been thought to have finally paid off when John Hartson equalised inside the box. However, Hartson scored from an offside position and the goal was ruled out.

Celtic were dealt another blow when English striker Chris Sutton had received an injury forcing the Celtic staff to make a change. Further misery for Celtic followed after Neil Lennon was sent off after receiving his second yellow card

Celtic had another opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot after Ranger’s Lorenzo Amoruso had brought down Celtic’s Bobo Balde. John Hartson took the spot kick but shot wide.

The ingredients look to be in place. Will Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic bring home his second league cup trophy or will Michael Beale start his Rangers managerial career with a bang and capture that first piece of Silverware?