Puzzling Celtic banner is purest form of ingratitude and I want person who made it to explain something – Hugh Keevins

Celtic will go into the Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen on Saturday looking to create a world record.

Their opponents, on the other hand, will be trying to contest the theory they may have sold 20,000 tickets to their fans under false pretences.

The falsehood being that they are in any way capable of living with Brendan Rodgers’ side. Pape Gueye’s regrettably-spiteful challenge on Reo Hatate in Wednesday night’s dominant display from Celtic at Pittodrie was, in my opinion, that of a pub team player on a public park.

Aberdeen now need to win the cup to regain a vestige of respectability or the chances are Jimmy Thelin won’t remain as manager for much longer.

The facade has vanished. The Swede has constructed, if that’s the right word, a bang average team with no particular identity.

When a bona fide club legend like Willie Miller can publicly say he fears for Aberdeen at Hampden then why should anyone disagree? The only thing they have in their favour regarding the cup final is football’s unpredictability itself.

Rangers not being up against Celtic next weekend, because they couldn’t get past Queens Park at Ibrox in an earlier round, ought to be proof of anything being possible in this game.

Then again, Rangers, in front of a half-empty stadium reflecting the demoralising nature of their season, wiped the floor with Dons only last Sunday.

If you do Celtic by the numbers now, it begins to look like an optical illusion. It took the club from 1888, the year of their formation, until 1968, the year after they became the first British club to win the European Cup, to amass 47 domestic trophies. Eight decades.

If Celtic beat Aberdeen in this week’s final, they will have won 47 trophies in the last three decades.

That