Celtic thrashed Aberdeen 6-0 to end Jimmy Thelin’s unbeaten start in devastating fashion and reach the Scottish League Cup final.
Flares and fireworks before the hotly anticipated clash resulted in a 13-minute delay while the smoke slowly cleared for the VAR technology to kick in.
After a cagey start, Celtic found their stride with Cameron Carter-Vickers rising to head in the opener with Kyogo and Daizen Maeda also getting on the scoresheet before the break.
The Hoops were in no mood for another Dons comeback and Maeda added their fourth just after the restart with Nicolas Kuhn making it five before the hour.
Aberdeen, who stunned Rangers in the Premiership in midweek, had no answers as Maeda completed his hat-trick late on as their unbeaten start to the season ended spectacularly at game 17.
Brendan Rodgers’ side will face Motherwell or Rangers in the final on December 15.
Celtic devastate Dons at Hampden
Aberdeen fans travelled to Glasgow filled with hope of seeing their team beat Celtic at the national stadium for the first since 1992 but they were well and truly dismantled either side of half-time.
Kyogo and Callum McGregor, back in the Hoops starting XI after injury, had long-range chances before the Japanese striker sent Maeda’s cross past the post.
There was a quick check for handball as the Hoops hoped for a penalty but Sivert Heltne Nilsen didn’t handle in the box.
Carter-Vickers then set Celtic on their way to the final as he rose to head in from Arne Engles’ precise corner.
Just three minutes later, Kyogo doubled their lead after a brilliant piece of play from Maeda, laying the ball to him to smash in off the bar.
The provider then turned scorer before the break as Nicholas Kuhn slipped him the ball. He got behind Nicky Devlin and clipped a shot past Dimitar Mitov.
Jimmy Thelin brought on Ante Palversa and Shayden Morris for the second half as he looked for another comeback, but it took just four minutes for Celtic to add a fourth.
Kuhn ran from the halfway line, waltzed into the box and saw a shot saved before Maeda tucked home the rebound.
McGrath got Aberdeen’s only shot on target but his weak effort trundled along the ground into Kasper Schmeichel’s hands.
Celtic continued their clinical display when Engels helped the ball on to Kuhn 15 yards out. The winger was faced with a crowd of Aberdeen players but curled a shot in off the bar.
The Dons came very close to a consolation midway through the half when Sokler headed MacKenzie’s cross just wide.
But Celtic had the final say when Maeda tapped home Alistair Johnston’s ball across the face of goal with five minutes left.
Rodgers: ‘Outstanding performance’
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers:
“Obviously, a brilliant result and outstanding performance against an Aberdeen team that have been so good this season in the league.
“We knew how tough it was going to be, so we knew we had to be really, really good today in a lot of our game.
“But I think it’s a massive credit to the players, their mentality and how ruthless they were in the game. It was a really good one.”
Thelin: ‘We will learn’
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin:
“We’re going to take some learning points from this game.
“I think sometimes when football can be like this, when things start going wrong, it can go wrong really quickly and we didn’t find a way back.
“We have things to learn and things to improve for the future and that’s what we’re going focus on now and take learning points from this game and keep growing.
“We want to be in this situation. We want to play an important game at Hampden and we want to be in Europe.
“We want to cope with this intensity, so that’s what we have to improve from.”
