Peter Leven reveals what he told his players about Celtic after Hampden Scottish Cup loss

The Celtic win at Hampden is one that will be talked about for many years for both good and bad reasons.

The fact we still made it to another Scottish Cup Final despite not playing at our best is a major positive.

But then, our defending did look suspect at times as well as our composure on the ball. And whilst we can’t play brilliantly in every Game, we have lacked a certain spark of late.

That is something the Celtic fans have been talking about for a number of weeks but for Peter Leven at Aberdeen, the interim manager was talking about something completely different.

Leven – Celtic set the standard

The Aberdeen boss deserves an immense amount of credit for how he set his team up on Saturday. The Dons caused us all sorts of problems, many of them through our own fault.

But despite their best efforts, Aberdeen still couldn’t get past us. And Leven admits that he told his players at full time that Celtic are the standard they must aspire to.

Leven said [Daily Record], “The dressing room is a little bit flat but that is my job and that of the staff to lift them up because we have a massive Game on Saturday.

“I said to them that is the standard. In fairness, since I have come in, rest, recover and go again. We have these five huge Games in the league.

“The spirit has been there since I have come in. The fans were brilliant and they never gave up and kept pushing us. We were the better team at times.

“We had Celtic rattled, especially in the second half. I am just gutted for the boys.”

If Leven and his team put in the same kind of performances for the rest of the season as they did against Celtic on Saturday, they will avoid relegation.

But for Brendan Rodgers, he must look at improving on the defensive errors that almost cost him his unbeaten Scottish Cup record and a place in next month’s final.