Celtic v Hearts: Scottish Cup final – live!

17 mins: Those early signs of an uber-defensive Hearts look a tad misleading – they’re actually playing with a fair bit of ambition. Brown and Naismith clash in the centre-circle.

14 mins: Turnbull heaves in a free-kick from the right. It’s cleared straight back to him, and he does a couple of keepie-uppies before belting a volleyed cross back into the danger area. The ball just evades two attackers and goes out for a goal kick.

13 mins: Christie, Celtic’s best outlet so far, steams down the right and rattles in a low cross with his weaker right foot. Berra lunges to clear for a corner, which comes to nothing. And suddenly Hearts are on the attack! Irving plays a ball round the corner to Naismith, Hazard rushes out, gets nowhere near the ball, and Naismith prods goalwards … but just wide.

11 mins: But that’s the outlier so far. This is quickly turning into a training-ground, attack-v-defence type of soiree. Celtic’s centre-backs are playing well into the opposition half when their team has the ball, with Hearts retreating like their life depends on it. Ajar makes inroads down the right and swings one in from deep, and Gordon charges out to collect authoritatively.

9 mins: Hearts enjoy their first proper spell of possession, Irving and Smith keeping it well on the right, but can’t find an opening.

Another great not-quite-Christmas film: Eyes Wide Shut. Atmospheric, haunting, Tom Cruise’s most interesting role – and set in Christmassy Manhattan.

7 mins: Turnbull spins beautifully in a crowded midfield, escaping two men to begin a period of sustained pressure from Celtic. Hearts encamp themselves in their own half.

5 mins: Celtic mount their first meaningful attack with Christie jinking in from the right and dropping n a cross. It’s half-cleared to the incoming Taylor who unleashes one from range, but his shot is wild and sails well over.

2mins: The first piece of goalkeeping from young Conor Hazard – he collects a tricky inswinging Irving free-kick, the ball bobbling through a crowd. He holds well – that’ll do him some good.

And we’re off. Hearts start quickly, working the ball down the left and White whipping in a cross that doesn’t find a teammate and is cleared.

The teams march out. And everyone has their game faced foirmly affixed. Flames tear upwards in front of a crowd of zero. Neil Lennon looks like he means business.

I guess we can be grateful for live sport in this festive season of locked-down

despair
joy. But I sense the old repertoire of Christmas films will be getting even more of an airing this year. The best Christmas movies? The correct answer is, as we all know, a dead heat between Home Alone and Die Hard. But here’s a recommendation: Happiest Season – a real gem, available now on a streaming platform near you. Your favourite Christmas films?

Craig Gordon, of course, won this trophy twice as a Celtic player. And get this: he has never lost a final, as either a junior or senior player. Today would be his 10th victory in a row.

Celtic fans greet the team bus – about as much as they can do to back their team in a game that will be played behind closed doors

Pre-match reading – a fantastic interview with Hearts’ chairwoman, the self-made multimillionaire, who saved her club from the clutches of administration:

The big team news is that Scott Brown starts for Celtic. The wind-up merchant extraordinaire had sat out the last two games – both of them wins – and hasn’t been part of a winning Celtic team since the start of November. But the veteran takes his place at the heart of midfield today.

Neilson makes one change from last week’s 6-1 win, replacing Olly Lee with Andy Halliday. And here’s a potential subplot: the keepers. Celtic’s rookie Conor Hazard is making only his third first-team appearance while his opposite number, Gordon Brown, is making his 512th. Will youthful courage or wizened knowhow win the day?

Celtic: Hazard; Ajer, Jullien, Duffy, Taylor; Brown, McGregor Christie, Turnbull, Elyounoussi; Edouard. Subs: Barkas, Bitton, Griffiths, Klimala, Soro, Rogic, Johnston, Frimpong, Laxalt

Hearts: Gordon; Smith, White, Berra, Halkett; Kingsley, Walker, Haliiday, Irving, Boyce; Naismith. Subs: Stewart, Haring, Lee, Roberts, Wighton, Frear, Popescu, Ginnelly, Henderson

Ho ho ho! Thought your Christmas was going badly? Spare a thought for Neil Lennon, whose inglorious return to Celtic has seen the club’s hated rivals gain the upper for the first time in a decade and his own fans taking to the streets to call for his head. That was a month ago, after lowly Ross County knocked his side out of the this season’s League Cup. Today’s fixture: Celtic v Hearts in the final of last season’s Scottish Cup. Do keep up.

But more importantly it’s a fixture Lennon can draw some much-needed good vibes, as it was in this game last year (ie two seasons ago – do keep up) that he secured the treble-treble, coming to Celtic’s rescue after one Mr B Rodgers has skedaddled to the East Midlands. A win this time would make that a quadruple-treble: an absurd achievement, and yet one that would offer no guarantees about his job.

The folks standing in their way are another historic heavyweight, led by a former player, whose status has taken a dramatic nosedive in these bizarre last few months. Relegated by a hugely controversial SFPL vote after last season was curtailed, Hearts have since been fuelled by rage, and it’s served them pretty well.

They’re well clear at the top of the Championship and prevailed in a dramatic Edinburgh derby to get to Hampden. They are vengeful team with momentum on their side – in other words, exactly what Neil Lennon will not have wanted for Christmas. Strap in!