Celtic to face Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-finals

There was a period when the sat-nav system on the Celtic team bus may have issued a warning signal whenever the G40 postcode was breached.

When Ange Postecoglou’s side won at Pittodrie on October 3, it was the first time in eight months that the Parkhead men had registered a triumph on the road domestically.

Since then nine wins and two draws have been racked up in jig time to secure progress in the league and Scottish Cup. Such an extraordinary turnaround in fortunes is proving to be the cornerstone of the most unlikely Treble tilt in living memory.

Dundee Utd: Siegrist, Butcher, Edwards, Graham, Freeman (Sporle 66), Liam Smith, Levitt (Meekison 72), Harkes (McDonald 28), Niskanen, Clark, McNulty (Thomson 72).

Subs Not Used: Mulgrew, Eriksson, Akinola, Cudjoe.

Booked: Butcher, Niskanen.

Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, O'Riley (McCarthy 76), McGregor (Ideguchi 87), Hatate (Rogic 46), Forrest (Johnston 76), Giakoumakis, Maeda (Dembele 76).

Subs Not Used: Jullien, Bitton, Ajeti, Bain, Ralston, Welsh.

Booked: Hatate, Giakoumakis.

Goals: McGregor 12, Giakoumakis 58, 88.

Att: 8,553

Ref: John Beaton (Scotland).

Rangers, naturally, will provide a formidable barrier when the sides meet twice in a fortnight across both competitions next month. No one ever said making history comes easy.

Seeking stop a side going for a 30th league glue and cup game unbeaten, Thomas Courts did not need his Dundee United players to do Celtic any favours here.. Somehow they managed to do so twice.

While Nicky Clark could not be faulted for redirecting Callum McGregor’s early strike away from the grasp of Benjamin Siegrist, the Swiss keeper will have nightmares about the fumble which allowed Giorgos Giakoumakis to claim the