After a cagey affair throughout which saw VAR rule out goals for both sides for an offside and handball respectively, the game went to penalties after a goalless draw, with the away side coming out 4-2 winners in the shootout.
Danny Röhl named two changes to the side that contested the derby seven days ago in league action. Nasser Djiga was brought into the backline in place of John Souttar and Mohamed Diomande lining up in midfield in place of Tochi Chukwuani.
As anticipated, it was a lively start in the second derby encounter in seven days. After an early caution for Mohamed Diomande for a tackle on Julian Araujo, the hosts look to get in their stride and made a similar fast start to last Sunday.
The two full-backs almost combined with Dujon Sterling’s long delivery just out the reach of the stretching Tuur Rommens. In the next phase of play after a long clearance, Youssef Chermiti looked to replicate his heroics of last weekend as the break of the ball broke to the forward, but he lashed his effort wide of the target from outside the area.
Rangers’ faithful wanted a spot kick awarded and it was again the Portuguese man at the heart of it. Chermiti raced into the area and looked to get a shot off which appeared to hit the arm of the sliding Auston Trusty, but the appeals were waved away by referee Don Robertson.
Things started to settle in Govan, but it was the home side seeing the majority of the ball in the final third. Patiently waiting for openings, Andreas Skov Olsen saw the ball on the right side on a couple of occasions, but his crosses looking for teammates were dealt with by the Celtic backline.
After experiencing this fixture for the first time last weekend, Ryan Naderi thought he had yards ahead of him to burst away and potentially put his side ahead. Breaking inside the opposing half the German carried the ball forward, but the away side got bodies behind the ball to crowd out the situation.
Rangers got a lift from that moment with the fans up with them. Rommens won the ball inside the box and cut it back for Chermiti, his shot was heading goalwards but for a Trusty intervention before Mikey Moore’s effort on the rebound was blocked to safety.
After rarely threatening and only showing any sign of promise from set pieces, Celtic thought they had scored the opening goal. Following a second phase of a Luke McCowan corner, the midfielder whipped in the ball on his left side which was flicked by Liam Scales and saw Daizen Maeda head it beyond Jack Butland who scrambled to keep it out.
The ball crossed the line and after the hosts seemingly put themselves in front, the forward had just gone a split second too early and was denied by an offside decision following a VAR review.
Röhl’s men tried to take a lift from the decision going in their favour and had their best opening for a prolonged period in the game minutes later. Sterling won it high on the right flank and carried the ball positively with space ahead of him, he picked out the arriving Chermiti inside the area, but the 21-year-old sent his left footed effort on the half volley over the top.
The home side looked to get on the front foot at the beginning of the second period and almost profited off a loose Celtic backpass. Benjamin Arthur couldn’t react quickly enough to McCowan’s pass, Chermiti looked to latch onto it and pounce on the error, but Viljami Sinisalo between the posts reacted quick enough to clear the danger.
It was getting lively again inside Ibrox as the home side started on the front foot. Turning the ball over in midfield Rommens latched onto it to feed Moore, the on-loan Spurs man was direct in his approach towards goal before Celtic got men behind the ball and managed to divert his second effort behind.
The ball somehow didn’t cross the line for Rangers following a dangerous set piece delivery. Whipped in by Moore it was initially met by the head of Emmanuel Fernandez, the first effort stayed out before Chermiti and Djiga were in there but both couldn’t scramble it over the line from close range.
Both teams seemed to be cancelling each other out as the men in charge of their sides turned to their benches. Chances on the break for the two were appearing, with Chermiti going close with an effort that looked to be threatening which Trusty got in the way of.
Inside the final 10 minutes in Govan there had been a real lack of quality at both ends. The Gers continued to probe now with Nedim Bajrami and Djeidi Gassama on their flanks, looking to find the moment to send them to Hampden with the game looking to be heading towards extra time.
Raskin on the end of a Rommens cross that looked destined to find the far corner but for Benjamin Nygren to clear the danger off the line, with set pieces looking like a distinct possibility of the Light Blues finding a breakthrough.
On the counter-attack, the Gers had a great opportunity to book a semi spot in stoppage time. Breaking away from a corner Bajrami acknowledged Gassama to his left, he opted against feeding Chermiti and played in fellow sub Chukwuani instead. He side stepped into the box onto his left, but was crowded out by the Celtic back line in what was the best real opening to win the tie inside the 90 minutes.
Extra time started in the continuous fashion of the contest, with the home side introducing their captain James Tavernier. After a closely contested period, 99 minutes were on the clock with Chermiti going so close once again to adding to his Old Firm tally for the season.
Rangers then thought they had taken the lead in the tie after having a goal ruled out by VAR themselves. A dangerous corner delivery was met by the head of Fernandez, his initial effort was downwards before Celtic tried to scramble it clear, eventually going on to kick off the Englishman’s hand before it crossed the line.
The theme of the afternoon continued throughout the second period of extra time, with spot kicks beckoning to be what separated the two rivals in taking a step closer to silverware this season. Sub Joel Mvuka broke on the break down the left and looked to find a teammate with a cutback but for an intervention from John Souttar, as the game headed for penalties.
Tavernier stepped up first for the Gers and hit the crossbar before Oxlade-Chamberlain fired down the middle beyond Butland to put the away side one up. It was midfielder Bajrami who was up next to get Rangers on the board for the first time and he did firing straight past Sinisalo. Trusty was up next and fired down to the keeper’s right past the goalkeeper.
Ryan Naderi cushioned one into the bottom left, before Reo Hatate converted to put Celtic 3-2 up and still maintain the advantage, before Djeidi Gassama blazed his effort over the bar meaning Celtic had to convert to book their place at Hampden, Tomas Cvancara stepped up and scored to put Celtic through and book their place in the last four.
RANGERS: Butland, Sterling (Tavernier, 90), Djiga (Souttar, 105), Fernandez, Rommens (Meghoma, 102), Raskin, Diomande (Chukwuani, 45), Skov Olsen (Gassama, 66), Moore (Bajrami, 77), Naderi, Chermiti
SUBS: Kelly, Aasgaard, Miovski
CELTIC: Sinisalo, Scales, Trusty, Nygren (Bernardo, 102), Yang (Mvuka, 79), McCowan (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 57), Araujo, Tounekti (Cvancara, 57), Maeda (Forrest, 79), Hatate, Arthur (Murray, 60)
SUBS: Doohan, Saracchi, Donovan