Greg Taylor shares what was said in Celtic dressing room about Scottish Cup final win over Rangers

It’s little surprise that in almost every media conference over the past couple of months, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has talked about pressure and mentality.

The Celtic squad’s ability to deal with expectations and show a strong winning drive has been a noted key strength for years.

Rodgers backed his team to rise to the challenge of delivering trophies, certainly in comparison to a Rangers team that have consistently struggled when the heat is really on. He wanted a discussion about the high stakes involved out there.

That all played out again on Saturday when Celtic took their big moment with Adam Idah’s winning strike, getting over the line by any means necessary.

It’s been something of a theme of the Bhoys’ season and it’s what the players talked about in the dressing room at Hampden after seeing off their rivals.

Greg Taylor notes a fitting end to Celtic season

Greg Taylor shared that the squad feels the final was a microcosm of the season as a whole – not always pretty but ending with Celtic eventually emerging as winners.

The left-back said [Daily Mail]: “We were a bit done and out on our feet so I was glad it didn’t go to extra time. I looked at the clock and it was showing 83 or 84 minutes and I was like: ‘Oooft, my legs are pretty done here.’

“It was a hot day and a tense occasion. We had the chance to beat our biggest rivals, win a cup and make it a really special season, not just the league title, and we did it.

“I thought in the first half we controlled a lot of the ball without doing a lot with it, in truth. The pitch was a bit dry, albeit a really good surface, and there weren’t a lot of clear-cut chances in the Game but, in the big moment, Adam scores.

“We were saying in the dressing room that the cup final was a pretty accurate reflection of how the whole season has gone. It’s not always been pretty, but we’ve got a really strong mentality in the group — a winning mentality — and in the big moments we’ve turned up.”

With leaders like Callum McGregor also sending strong messaging in the wake of the victory, it’s clear that Celtic won’t be letting this latest success go to their heads.

Everyone at the club sounds motivated to kick into a new gear this summer, strengthen in the transfer market and produce improved performances next season.

The Bhoys will be favourites to lift the silverware in Scotland again next season and it’s because they don’t indulge in that tag outside of matches, they simply keep proving it on the pitch.