Scottish League Cup final: Aberdeen 0-3 Celtic

Captain Scott Brown lifted the League Cup for Celtic

Celtic eased aside Aberdeen to lift the Scottish League Cup for the 16th time and secure their 100th major trophy - the first of the Brendan Rodgers era.

Tom Rogic's precise drive into the far corner - his third goal against the Dons this season - put the Premiership leaders in front on 16 minutes.

Fellow midfielder James Forrest made it 2-0 with an almost identical strike eight minutes before the break.

The Dons threatened only briefly before Moussa Dembele's second-half penalty.

Celtic showed no ill-effects from their midweek Champions League defeat by Barcelona as they remained unbeaten domestically this season and secured a 10th straight domestic victory.

Aberdeen's fourth defeat in a row by their opponents - their third this season - denied Derek McInnes his second League Cup triumph as manager.

Rogic the man again

Tom Rogic put Celtic into an early lead at Hampden

Celtic were looking dangerous even before they scored, Dembele's header forcing a save from Joe Lewis.

It was Rogic who unlocked this final, though. Having scored in Celtic's 4-1 win over the Dons at Pittodrie earlier in the season, and also scoring the winner in the 1-0 victory at Parkhead, the Australian delivered once more.

It had much to do with Aberdeen's incredible inability to deny Celtic space. It was a curse that blighted them all day. They were easy meat far too often.

For the opener, Jozo Simunovic stepped forward into attack, slid a pass to Rogic, who had time to take a look, take aim and fire past Lewis.

Dons blow their chance

Aberdeen looked overawed as Celtic won at a canter

Teams tend to live off scraps against Celtic in domestic competition, so when an opponent gets a chance, they had better take it. Aberdeen did not.

Trailing 1-0, Andrew Considine had a close-range header he had to score from. Instead, he directed his effort too close to Craig Gordon and the goalkeeper beat it away.

Celtic kicked on, owning large amounts of possession and threatening to exploit all the freedom Aberdeen were giving them. Scott Brown had the run of midfield, Rogic was excellent, Forrest was lively.

It was the latter who doubled the lead, and again it was a catastrophe for underdogs.

The goal had its origins deep inside Celtic's own half, near the right-hand corner. When Forrest took possession, he was still inside the centre circle.

He ran and ran. Aberdeen had enough bodies to deal with him but none of them took any kind of responsibility, as if transfixed by his oncoming presence.

Forrest got close enough to goal and whipped his shot across Lewis and into the corner of his net. A gorgeous finish.

Winning with style

Tom Rogic and James Forrest scored Celtic's first two goals

Aberdeen had a bit more intensity at the start of the second half, but they fell further behind just after the hour when Anthony O'Connor took down Forrest and Dembele sent Lewis the wrong way from the penalty spot.

It was a rout now, on the pitch and in the stands, where Celtic's supporters lorded it and acclaimed their cup winners in song.

Forrest, who was excellent, teed up Stuart Armstrong late on for what should have been a fourth, but the midfielder pulled it wide.

The Dons were lucky it was only three, but three was more than enough.

Rodgers didn't just win his first trophy as Celtic manager, he won it in a canter against a team sitting third in the Premiership that were overrun, and overawed, almost from the first whistle.