Terrific Chermiti: Old firm hero linked with Portugal call-up
Former Everton and now Portugal manager Roberto Martinez has highlighted that Youssef Chermiti is in sight for a potential World Cup call-up. The Portuguese striker scored an astonishing overhead kick as well as another neat finish in last weekend’s Old Firm derby. Just two weeks before, he scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over league leaders Hearts. The striker had a slow start to life at Ibrox, as well as coming with a big fee, but he now has nine league goals, with eight of them coming against Hearts and Celtic. And this form has caught the eye of experienced Portugal boss Roberto Martinez. He said: “It’s important to keep the door open to new talent in the national team. “In that respect, we are looking at Francisco Conceicao, Rodrigo Mora and Fabio Silva. Youssef Chermiti at Rangers is another player who is doing well. “Each player’s current form is important, but their contribution across a whole season should not be forgotten.” Chermiti has already played many games for Portugal at a youth level, with four goal involvements in five at U21 European level, he will be looking to move onto bigger and better things and potentially assist his country come June. With Portugal’s arranged friendlies later this month with Mexico and USA, and with the matches being played in two of the chosen World Cup countries, Chermiti will be looking to get a brief taster before the big finale in the summer. Portugal’s squad in general is fantastic, with top players from across the best leagues in the world. It is a great advertisement for Scottish football to see players from the league getting recognition from world class countries. However, there is still a lot of football to be played domestically, and with many important fixtures approaching, the 21-year-old will need to be fully focused on continuing his good form in big matches and helping Rohl’s Rangers push for the title. If he does continue his fine form, will Chermiti be on that plane with Ronaldo come the summer?
Aberdeen host Celtic in a must win game for both sides
Aberdeen welcome Celtic to Pittodrie in a must win for Celtic if they are to catch Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership. The last time the two sides met was just before Christmas when Nancy was in charge at Parkhead where Nancy picked up his first win in Glasgow with a 3-1 win over the Dons. The last meeting at Pittodrie was on matchday two where Celtic ran away 2-0 winners under Brendan Rodgers with Nygren and Hatate was on target to give Celtic the win. This will be the third Celtic manager to face Aberdeen, a first for Martin O’Neill since 2005 in a 3-2 win at Celtic Park. Aberdeen are coming into this match following defeat in the capital to league leaders Hearts following a first half goal by Claudio Braga to stretch the lead at the top. The last meeting at Pittodrie came two weeks ago where Aberdeen were defeated yet again as Dundee and Steven Pressley ran out 3-2 winners with Ethan Hamilton scoring a stunner late on to win it for the Dens Park outfit. Aberdeen have only won one league game in their last 11 which was a 6-2 win against Livingston. Last time out for the Hoops’ they draw away to title rivals Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday. A brace by Chermitti in the first half saw Celtic go into the break 2-0 down but Tierney had Celtic back into the game after 56 minutes with Reo Hatate missing a penalty late on but scoring the rebound second time of asking. Celtic have only lost one league game in their last eight which was a 2-1 defeat at home to Hibernian. Leven speaking on tomorrow’s clash with Celtic: “Celtic are a good team, but we’re also a good team on our day. We need to bring it tomorrow. It’s a 95-minute performance, we need that, we’ve not had many of them this season. “But again, we’re at home. We shouldn’t fear anybody. This is a huge club and the boys should know how big this club is and anybody who comes up to Pittodrie should be in for a tough game.” Leven admitted his squad must “believe in each other” should they get past Celtic He added: “They’ve got to belief in the system, they’ve got to believe in each other, they’ve got to work hard, yes at times you’ll need a little bit of luck. “But listen, there’s good players in this team but they’ve got to all bring it on the same day and fight for each other, that’s the most important thing.” Martin O’Neill on tomorrow’s trip up North: “Certainly, this is a big game for us tomorrow evening, a big match for us and we have to try and win the game if we can” The Celtic boss has also commented on the Schmeichel situation: “Kasper is still not feeling great so I will leave him to recover properly,” said the Northern Irishman, who will again be without suspended defender Auston Trusty. “He (Sinisalo) has done really well in the two games that he’s come in. “He came in for the European game against Stuttgart, made a couple of really good saves and did very well. “And so he will start tomorrow night. “I have been pleased with him. I thought he did fine against Rangers, really fine. “And the goals that he conceded certainly weren’t his fault. “So I’ve been very pleased with him. And it’s an opportunity, it’s not the way that you’d want it to do. “But it’s an opportunity to see him because I think he wants to be the number one goalkeeper here in the foreseeable future.”
German coach Sandro Schwarz arrives into Aberdeen for talks about Dons job
Sandro Schwarz has landed in the Granite City as talks begin as Horneland’s move to Aberdeen has faced ‘unforeseen circumstances’. This afternoon, Sandro Schwarz flew into Aberdeen to hold talks about the chance of becoming the new boss after the sacking of Jimmy Thelin at the start of the year. He will meet with Dave Cormack, Alan Burrows and Lutz Pfannenstield over the available job at Pittodrie this afternoon. Eirik Horneland remains the main target to take the job in Scotland but ‘unforeseen circumstances’ have appeared with Sandro becoming a possible back-up option should the talks with the Norwegian break down. Lutz knows him from his time in Germany and the USA where he managed New York City Red Bulls with Lutz being at St Louis City. The German boss has had a handful of managerial jobs such as Mainz, FC Eschborn, Hertha Berlin, Wehen Weisbaden and Russian side, Dynamo Moscow. Sandro who was most recently boss in New York had a win percentage of 38% which was a win rate of 1.4 points per game in MLS football. Aberdeen currently have Peter Leven in charge on interim basis with Ex-Ross County boss, Tony Docherty in as assistant. Aberdeen have struggled big time this season, sitting eighth in the Scottish Premiership with top-six looking like mission impossible. Horneland joining Aberdeen may still happen but it has been made clear that the appointment won’t be any earlier than the summer.
Partick Thistle 0-0 Arbroath: Thistle Fall Behind in Championship Title Challenge
Partick Thistle lost ground in the Scottish Championship title race after drawing 0-0 with 3rd place Arbroath at Firhill. Both teams were reduced to ten men in the second half, paving the way for leaders St. Johnstone to extend their lead at the top to five points. The first half offered very little for either set of fans to get excited about. Aidan Fitzpatrick found space down the right flank around 17 minutes in, but the Thistle winger’s zipped cross was diverted behind for a corner. Striker Tony Watt fashioned an opportunity for himself just two minutes later after receiving the ball just outside the box from Ts’oanelo Lets’osa, but the veteran’s effort was easily saved amid defensive pressure. Arbroath rarely threatened in the opening 45, with Ryan Dow going down inside the area looking for a penalty being the only time Josh Clarke in the home net may be getting troubled. The visitors would have a player advantage just before and hour had been played when Thistle’s Daniel O’Reilly received a straight red card for a high challenge on Arbroath’s Harry Cochrane. Yet it would be the hosts who came closest to breaking the deadlock with around twenty minutes to go. Fitzpatrick, who moved over to the left for the second half, burst onto a through ball in the box and cut in onto his favoured right foot. His drilled shot was deflected wide for a corner, and the contest remained goalless. Clarke kept his clean sheet intact with a fine catch inside the final fifteen minutes of action, keeping Arbroath captain Thomas O’Brien’s header from six yards out from a corner kick. And if that save wasn’t good enough, he produced an even better one with seven minutes to go. Scott Stewart put it on a plate for Findlay Marshall after a weaving run wide right, but the Aberdeen loanee’s shot was fantastically tipped over by the 21-year-old. The number of players were levelled a minute later as Thistle went on an attack of their own. O’Brien of Arbroath brought Alex Samuel down outside the box, and was given his marching orders after being deemed the last man. Ben Stanway struck the bar from the awarded free-kick. And it was as though the deadlock was never meant to be broken, with Oisin Smyth cannoning a second effort off of the crossbar from a similar position in added time. The stalemate means Thistle fall further behind St. Johnstone in the title race, with the Perth side seeing of Ayr 3-1. They can stretch the 5 point lead to 8 this weekend, with the Jags in Scottish Cup quarter-final away to St. Mirren on Sunday. As for Arbroath, they remain comfortable in 3rd place, but have no time for respite as they host Scott Brown’s aforementioned Ayr United who will be hungry to bounce back to winning ways as the fight for the promotion places heats up. PARTICK THISTLE: Clarke 8, Reading 3 (Loughrey 60’ 2), Ashcroft 4, Smyth 5, Samuel 6, Crawford 2 (Chalmers 46’ 2), McBeth 2 (Ingram 46’ 3 ), O’Reilly 3, Fitzpatrick 5 (Turner 77’ 1), Watt 4, Lets’osa 4 (Stanway 60’ 4) ARBROATH: McAdams 5, Wilkie 5, O’Brien 4, Muirhead 3 (Lang 69’ 2 ), Flynn 6, Reilly 5 (Beadling 77’ 1 ), Dow 5, Watson 5, Marshall 4 (Mebude 84’ 1), Nesbitt 5 (Stewart 69 3’), Cochrane 6 (Robinson 77’ 1)
Are Aberdeen in danger of being dragged into a relegation fight?
Aberdeen have had a struggle of a season as they sit eighth with a difficult run to come for Peter Leven’s men. It’s been a difficult season for Aberdeen after a poor start which saw Scottish Cup winner, Jimmy Thelin sacked at the start of the year after a defeat away at Falkirk. Aberdeen have only won three times this year so far which came against Championship side, Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup, a 6-2 win over bottom of the league Livingston and an impressive 2-0 win over 9-men Motherwell in the Scottish Cup. Aberdeen have failed to win away since early December and this year hasn’t been great at all. The Dons’ new manager search has taken quite a while as still no manager has taken the role yet despite huge talk of Eirik Horneland taking the job which looks like it may not be until next season. Peter Leven is currently in charge as interim boss with former Ross County and Dundee boss Tony Docherty alongside Leven. Aberdeen also added former Notts County boss, Ian Burchnall to the coaching staff for the remainder of the season. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Dons with a trip to Tynecastle on the cards tomorrow – a place they haven’t won at since 2017 before they take on Celtic on Wednesday night. They then look to defend their Scottish Cup as they travel to East End Park next Saturday night to face Dunfermline. Aberdeen will also have to face the likes of Rangers, Hibernian, Falkirk and St Mirren ahead of the split which is far from ideal as Aberdeen are in dire need of grabbing wins to make a late push for top six. It is highly unlikely Aberdeen will go down due to the amount of quality but Peter Leven’s men certainly need to up their game to prevent being dragged closer to the bottom with sides around that area improving week by week.
Oliver Glasner opens up about potential exit
Crystal Palace boss, Oliver Glasner has spoken about the rumour of a potential exit being on the cards. Glasner has stated he has the full interest of remaining in charge with the Selhurst Park side until the end of the season at the very least despite struggling times. There has been concern within the Palace support to whether Glasner was going to depart the club as Crystal Palace continue to slip down the league as they currently sit 15th in the league and have qualified into the final 16 of the UEFA Conference League where they will meet AEK Larnaca – the side who defeated them in the league phase. Following their win over Zrinjski Mostar, Glasner said: “I’ve had 100-per-cent assurance [of staying on],” he told TNT Sports after the game. “For me it’s always number one is the players, the players believing in me and the staff – and that’s the most important thing, otherwise you can pack your suitcase and go home. “They have a great togetherness in the group, the staff and it’s the same with the chairman and sporting director.” Glasner also feels some of his comments within the media may have been one of the reasons to the rumours of Glasner possibly departing. “Maybe I gave some interviews which were not really helpful, I have to admit but I always say what I am feeling and sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s not so positive. “That’s Oliver Glasner, and in the end we are in a very good position in the league and now it’s up to us with our fans to make a really good season of it.” Glasner feels belief within the players is the most important part while results create the awareness. “For me it’s always number one is the players, the players believing in me and the staff – and that’s the most important thing, otherwise you can pack your suitcase and go home. “They have a great togetherness in the group, the staff and it’s the same with the chairman and sporting director.”
League Leader Hearts welcome struggling Aberdeen to Tynecastle
Hearts meet Aberdeen in the Capital tomorrow as Hearts look to extend their gap at the top with Aberdeen looking to end their winless run at Tynecastle. Aberdeen were the first side to hand out defeat to Hearts this campaign as a Topi Keskinen strike from the edge of the box gave Aberdeen a huge 1-0 win back in November which saw Hearts defeated for the first time in this season. The two sides also met on opening day at Tynecastle where Hearts began there sensational season with a 2-0 win with a Shinnie own-goal and Stuart Findlay header sealing the win for the Jambos. Last time out for the hosts, they defeated Falkirk narrowly with a 1-0 win on home soil against Falkirk. Islam Chesnokov grabbed his first goal in maroon just before the half-time interval helping Hearts move further away from both Celtic and Rangers who both dropped points on Sunday against Hibernian and Livingston respectfully. Aberdeen were in action on Tuesday in their re-arranged game with Dundee United at Tannadice as it ended up being a dull goalless draw in the City of Discovery. The pitch didn’t help neither teams in any way with recent rainfall in the city but a strong second half display by the Dons gave them some positives but still unable to find the back of the net which saw Aberdeen remain 8th behind Dundee United. Hearts have netted on seven occasions in their last five whereas Aberdeen have scored four in their last five. Hearts have only been defeated at home once this campaign which was their Scottish Cup exit to Falkirk following a penalty shootout defeat. Aberdeen have failed to win on their travels since the start of December in a 3-1 win at Dens Park with no away goal since just before Christmas as Bilalovic netted away to Celtic. Hearts have had issues in terms of injuries as both Shankland and Devlin are set to remain out. Craig Gordon will also miss out with a shoulder injury, Oisin McEntee misses also with a shoulder injury and Stuart Findlay looks likely to miss out after an injury picked up against Falkirk. Nieuwenhof, Ageu and Kingsley also miss out. For Aberdeen, they have issues at the back with both Gyamfi, Tobers and Knoester all out with McIntyre joining that list after going off at Tannadice. Nick Suman also remains out through injury.
Lyall Cameron believes Hearts are “beatable” ahead of Saturday’s showdown
Aberdeen man Lyall Cameron fully believes Aberdeen can go to Tynecastle and pick up points against the league leaders. The on-loan Rangers man feels his side can go to Gorgie and cause a shock and beat Hearts who sit top of the league and ending Aberdeen’s winless record which goes all the way back to 2017. Current Hearts boss, Derek McInnes was the last Aberdeen boss to secure victory at Tynecastle where McInnes defeated his current side 2-1 on the 7th of May, 2017. Aberdeen look likely to be involved in the bottom-six this season following their goalless draw in the City of Discovery on Tuesday evening at Tannadice. Lyall Cameron said: “We definitely need a win. We can win any game in this league. It has been shown this year with teams dropping points everywhere. “We just need to go there and play our own game. Play as well as possible and hopefully we get the three points.” Hearts have only suffered defeat on home soil once this season which came back in the Scottish Cup with Falkirk ending Scottish Cup dreams for the Jambos but has proven to be a very difficult venue for visiting sides. Cameron added: “We know the atmosphere at Tynecastle is going to be magnificent,” he insisted. “Their fans are really behind them. “We just need to go there, do our best, match their energy and give it back to them. We have players in our dressing room who can hurt them and players coming back who are good footballers, so we are looking forward to it.” This has been a clash where it has been the home side who appear to come away with all three points in. Aberdeen have failed to win away ever since December in a 3-1 win at Dens Park with there last away goal coming just before Christmas where Bilalovic netted late on in a 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park. As well as that, Aberdeen have suffered major blows at the backline with no Tobers or Knoester and now McIntyre adding to the list. He said: “That is the benchmark now. We have shown we can defend ugly and play ugly. We have players in the team who want to play football, myself included. “Every time I got the ball at Tannadice, I had to bang it in the channel. It is not what I want to be doing, but that was what the game was like on Wednesday. Hopefully, Saturday will be better and the travelling fans will get a better watch than that.” A win on Saturday may boost any remaining top-six hopes although those hopes already look to be deflated. Hearts will certainly be needing the win ahead of the Old Firm meeting on Sunday as they look to extend the gap but will need to deal with Aberdeen first.
Dundee defeat “Really frustrating” as Dons’ slump to a 3-2 defeat
It was a frustrating afternoon as Dundee picked up their first win at Pittodrie since 15th of May, 2004 in a 3-2 victory. Aberdeen started off brightly where it took just 13 minutes for Aberdeen to fire ahead as Kevin Nisbet had his effort in the back of the net as Aberdeen looked as they could’ve had more. Aberdeen were reduced to 10 just before the break as Liam Morrison denied Dundee a goal-scoring opportunity as Leven quotes: “We stopped playing football, they equalise and then there’s the red card. We need to be better at dealing with a long ball. But he’s cut across him, I’m not sure what he can do and I don’t know why we’re punished twice. But we’ve got to take it on the chin.” Leven added: “We’ve got to take out chances and go two or three-nil up. But we get a wee bit nervy and stop doing what we did early on. That’s two red cards in two games – it’s not good enough.” Dundee were then awarded a penalty following the foul where Simon Murray made no mistake and slotted the Dees’ a way back into the match. Right before the break, Joel Cotterill had Dundee ahead on the brink of half-time to send the away end into mayhem after an attempt from very close range and made no mistake and gave Dundee the lead going into the break. Dundee had the better first half start but Kevin Nisbet midway through the second 45 had a free-kick from distance and whipped it high into the top left-hand corner to level up the game. Dundee found themselves in front once again as an absolute stunner by Ethan Hamilton from far out right into the top right-hand corner which was near impossible to stop with the amount of power on the strike which smacked the bar and rattled the back of the net to give the Dees’ a famous win in Aberdeen. Leven said: “I thought at times we were good in the second half. We get it back to 2-2 and it’s got to be a point in that game. We turn the ball over too easy, we’ve got to go up the line and gain territory. But we gave it away and don’t defend the shot.”
Aberdeen 2-0 Motherwell: Dons Progress to Quarters after 3 Red Cards
Aberdeen booked their place in the Scottish Cup quarter‑finals with a hard‑fought win over Motherwell in a chaotic Pittodrie encounter. The match, which featured three red cards, saw Peter Leven’s side keep their season alive with a goal in each half. Kevin Nisbet opened the scoring with a superb free kick from the left edge of the box. Moments earlier, Oscar Priestman’s costly slip brought down Lyall Cameron, prompting referee John Beaton to show the first red card inside just three minutes. Buoyed by the early breakthrough, Aberdeen grew in confidence, but they too were reduced to ten men when Dennis Geiger was dismissed for a high challenge on Lukas Fadinger. Motherwell’s night worsened when John Beaton again intervened, sending off Liam Gordon for tripping the onrushing Toyosi Olusanya. Initially shown a yellow card, the offence was upgraded to red following a VAR review, leaving the visitors with nine men. Aberdeen ultimately sealed the result shortly after the hour mark. Captain Graeme Shinnie calmed the Pittodrie nerves with a precise left‑footed strike from 25 yards, drilling the ball into the bottom corner. Leven’s side now turn their attention back to Premiership action against Dundee on Saturday, while Motherwell prepare for their trip to Paisley to face St Mirren. Aberdeen: Bratveit, Devlin, Milne, McIntyre, Frame, Shinnie, Geiger, Cameron (Nilsen 85′) Milanovic (Olusanya 46′) Keskinen (Palaversa 46′) Nisbet (Lazetic 80′) Motherwell: Connelly, Sparrow (Slattery 46′) McGinn, Gordon, O’Donnell, Priestman, Fadinger (Longelo 61′) Just (Said 68′)Charles-Cook (Nicholson 80′) Maswanhise, Bjorgolfsson (Watt 61′)
