Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Perth to play St. Johnstone, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to Celtic TV to look ahead to the game. A win will be another giant step to regaining the SPFL trophy and a dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.

The manager hinted that Kasper Schmeichel may be available before the end of the season after picking up an injury while on international duty with Denmark but short term Viljami Sinisalo will be between the sticks and he was in a confident mood this morning when he spoke to us ahead of the St. Johnstone game.

The manager will be happy that James Forest and Paulo Bernardo are back in the squad but the game comes too early for Liam Scales who should be back in contention for selection for the Kilmarnock game at Celtic Park next weekend.

One player who will be starting on Sunday will be Daizen Maeda. 30 goals so far this season and who would bet against him not scoring on Sunday. No doubt he will be on a few peoples coupon to score the first goal like he did last weekend against Hearts. Since moving into the central strikers role from the wing in February he has scored 15 goals in 11 games which is an incredible return.

Add this to his incredible engine and we now have a player who is playing with more confidence than ever. In Brendan’s interview he described him as a phenomenal player which is high praise indeed to receive from your manager.

We will be on the road on Sunday early to cover the Celtic fans journey and all the match action at McDiarmid Park in Perth. Hopefully we will see some of our readers and listeners on route or at the game.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

It was back to Paradise for me on Saturday after watching the Glasgow Derby on O’Shea’s Rooftop in Bangkok with Celtic fans attending the Thailand Celtic Supporters Festival. O’Shea’s is the home of Bangkok CSC and they were great hosts and we were also joined by former Celtic player Didier Agathe on what turned out to be a very disappointing evening for Hoops fans.

The conditions on the roof top for the 7:30pm kick off were very hot as day turned to night. The wind and rainy conditions in Glasgow on Saturday soon had me dreaming the Asian sunshine we had left on Monday.

After getting off the bus from Edinburgh in Glasgow I got my first soaking of the day as I walked from Buchanon bus station to McChuills. I had caught a mid morning flight to Edinburgh and there were plenty of Celtic fans on the flight as it was a cheaper option than the Glasgow flights.

Celtic bounced back from the disappointment of the rangers game with a positive 3-0 win although once again it was the visiting team this time Hearts who started quicker.

All eyes were on young goalkeeper, Sinisalo who came in for only his second start after Kasper picked up an injury on international duty for Denmark. He had big boots to fill and he was called into action early on three occasions but dealt with them and for the rest of the game he had little to do and he spoke confidently after the game alongside Daizen.

Daizen Maeda scored two and picked up another man of the match performance and Jota got the other. The scoreline read 3-0 at half time and the second half played out with Celtic dominating the play but questions may be asked of Kevin Clancy’s referee performance. He seemed to let the Hearts players away with a lot of fouls or is that just me being biased for my team?

His absence was noticed from the Glasgow Derby but Celtic’s returning captain Callum McGregor showed what he is all about with a brilliant ball through to Maeda for the opening goal to put our mind at ease after the slow start from the bhoys.

Maeda, making his 150th Celtic appearance is now sitting on 30 goals for the season with plenty of football still to come. One punter sitting behind me could not have been happier at full time as he had £100 on Maeda first goal and 3-0 at 40-1 odds. He banked a nice £4000 and bought us all a drink after the game. Nice touch!

Paulo Bernardo and James Forest made their return to first-team action, coming off of the bench in the second half. The SPFL title is getting closer and the champagne is on ice.

It was not champagne afterwards back in McChuills but pints of Stout to celebrate the win as we cheered on Dundee to a 3-1 lead only to see them collapse to the rangers and lose 3-4.

Thankfully we also had a great acoustic set from Brogeal front man Daniel Harkins who mixed it up playing a bit of folk, bit of Irish and a bit of indie. Class act. In the airport later I seen a few other familiar faces. CCV and Maeda were heading down south on flights and they posed for pics with two of our younger members of our supporters club. Meeting players is always great for the kids who travel a long way to see their footballing heroes.

All in all a great return to Glasgow after almost two brilliant weeks in Thailand. This weekend we will be back in Scotland and we will have an early start on the road to in Perth for the early kick off v St. Johnstone on Sunday.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

Anyone at Celtic Park on Sunday will have witnessed the return of away fans across the Lisbon Lions  Upper and Lower stands. Hibs took 7000 fans to support them in their quest for a place in the semi-final at Hampden over Easter weekend.

They created a great atmosphere and even when they went 2-0 down they raised the noise levels supporting their players who before the game had gone 15 games unbeaten including a 2-1 win at Easter Road against Celtic in the League.

Thankfully it was not Sunshine on Leith but instead it was Sunshine in Paradise as the weather heated up, the sun was shining over Celtic Park as the Winter weather gave way to some welcome Spring sun. It was Celtic who were singing at the end of the game and it was Daizen Maeda who once again shone the brightest with another Man of Match performance

He opened the scoring and second half sub Adam Idah added the second goal to finally wrap up the game. Celtic dominated the game and Hibs defended very well for long periods when they were under pressure.

After the game it was a quick dash to the airport to catch the 7:30pm flight home which was packed with happy Celtic fans unlike this weekend when I travelled home for the St. Mirren game in the company of some very disgruntled rangers fans.

Hopefully they will be just as annoyed next weekend after they leave Celtic Park. Their domestic form is terrible lately although their Europa League form may give them and their new manager Barry Ferguson some confidence ahead of the visit to the East End of Glasgow.

Celtic have only suffered a handful of defeats both domestically and in Europe this season. One of those defeats was at Ibrox when the Celtic players forgot to turn up. The Celtic fans are expecting a revenge performance as the team steam roll towards another League title and a Scottish Cup a semi-final v St. Johnstone at Hampden.

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Confidence is high at Celtic Park and fans are dreaming of another treble under Brendan Rodgers. Nothing beats being inside Celtic Park at kick off on match days and tickets for this one are in high demand with the rangers fans back in for the first time since they spit out the dummy.

I will not be in Celtic Park on Sunday instead I will be joining former Celtic player Didier Agathe on the roof top of O’ Shea’s bar in Bangkok to preview the game before watching with the members of Bangkok CSC and Celtis Fans who are joining us from around the globe for the Trip to Thai 3 Celtic Festival.

Sunday can’t come quick enough for Celtic Fans who have become used to seeing Celtic play twice a week. Last week in Paisley we witnessed the Bhoys put 5 past St. Mirren and this weekend the SPFL is parked as we take on Hibs in the Scottish Cup quarter final at Celtic Park.

Hibs travel from Edinburgh in confident mood. They are the inform team and have knocked up an impressive 15-game unbeaten record after getting beaten 3-0 by Celtic on their last visit to Paradise but took all 3 points when we visited Easter Road a few weeks back and they beat their city rivals Hearts last week.

So we have a battle between the two best teams (at the moment in Scotland) . Celtic the defending champions and at home should be confident of a win after what could be a hard fought battle The enormity of Hibs’ task on Sunday is highlighted by the fact they have never previously beaten Celtic away from home in the Scottish Cup.

Since that defeat to Hibs, Celtic were unlucky to be knocked out of the Champions League by German Giants, Bayern Munich and beat Aberdeen 5-1 and St Mirren 5-2. Celtic’s home record is an impressive one having not lost to a Scottish side since Hearts took all 3 points in December 2023.

The Celtic players will be chomping at the bit to get revenge on Hibs after the controversial result in Edinburgh when we were robbed of at least a point by VAR and a poor referee. Inform Scottish player of the month Daizen Maeda thought he had equalised before it was ruled out and who would bet against him grabbing the headlines on Sunday.

Maeda has already scored 3 goals against Hibs and Celtic have already knocked them out of the league cup back in August but Hibs were only finding their feet back then and are much improved since then.

Celtic have plenty of attacking options as do Hibs and it could be some shoot out for a place in the semi-final. The last time Hibs beat Celtic is the Scottish Cup was March 1986. Lets hope it is the Green and White of Glasgow and not Edinburgh who are celebrating come Sunday evening.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast