Another good spell for Rangers has Aberdeen pinned back but the men in blue are yet to test goalkeeper Joe Lewis.

Daniel Candeias makes a monkey of Scott McKenna with a lovely nutmeg but the Rangers winger can only follow it up with a disappointing cross.

Aberdeen knock the ball out of play after Umar Sadiq takes a sore one on the shins on the follow-through from a Niall McGinn tackle.

Rangers' third choice striker is hobbling off after some treatment but looks like he should be okay.

Willie Miller
Former Scotland defender on BBC Sportsound

Gary Mackay-Steven ties Jon Flanagan in knots with a good run on the right and the ball is then worked into the penalty box where Niall McGinn slashes a first-time effort over the top from near the penalty spot.

Umar Sadiq is keen to make an impression on his first Rangers start but he maybe needs to cool his jets a little as he strays offside for the second time.

The pace of the game has dipped to a mere frenzy, with Rangers starting to knock the ball around with purpose as they probe for an opening.

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A first touch for the tall Umar Sadiq as the Rangers striker meets a lofted free-kick from James Tavernier and his header, under pressure from Michael Devlin, flashes over the top.

There are more than a few hot heads out there as Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie goes into John Beaton's book for a wild hack at Daniel Candeias.

Niall McGinn whips the free-kick up and over the defensive wall and Allan McGregor is at full-stretch to push it away, although it may have been going wide.

A very early booking as Ovie Ejarie is robbed by Scott Wright and then hauls down the Aberdeen forward.

James Wilson was on to the loose ball. Should advantage have been played?

And we're off. Who's going through to meet Celtic in the final?

The teams are out at a noisy Hampden. Not long to go now...

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, talking to BT Sport...

"This club has a strong history and tradition of winners and finals and trophies and it’s my responsibility, alongside with the players, to deliver more.

"But it’s so easy in football to do your talking off the pitch, you get to finals by going out and performing well individually and collectively. I just hope my players don’t freeze out there and we go and give a good account of ourselves. If we do I’m sure we can achieve it.

"I said we were a class above Aberdeen on the day (back in August) and if you watch that game I think most would agree. We do have a respect for Aberdeen, they finished above us in the league last year. They’re more experienced than us in terms of semi-finals in the last few years, so the respect is there. But we were certainly better than that day with 10 men, that’s for sure."

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes on Sportsound: "I spoke to Scott Wright at the back end of last week. He'd been out a long time. I told him I had him in mind for this game, had a role for him in the game. It's great to have Scott McKenna back.

"I think we prepare for every eventuality. Umar Sadiq's a centre-forward, although he's not been playing. We still weren't certain until the team lines came in.

"It's important for us to try and focus on what we want to try and do in the game. Well aware of the strengths and abilities of this Rangers team. They're a very good side.

"For us to win a cup and get to cup finals, you've got to beat good sides. We've beaten St Mirren, we've beaten Hibs. We want to try and beat another good team to go and get to a final, regardless of who plays for them.

"Rangers are expected to win trophies. I played there long enough. I know what's expected. We want to be remembered for winning trophies and today gives both teams an opportunity to go a step closer.

"I just want us to go and play without anxiety, without any doubt. Just go and be confident. Try and grab the initiative, strike a few blows early on, show the confidence we've got and hopefully work hard enough, get the breaks to try and get the club into another final."

Peter Houston
Former Scotland assistant manager on BBC Sportsound

Rangers, unbeaten in their past five games against Aberdeen, are looking to reach the League Cup final for the first time in more than seven years.

In March 2011 they beat Celtic 2-1 at Hampden, with Nikica Jelavic firing in an extra-time winner.

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On the attendance topic, we need to mention the fuss over tickets for this one at Hampden.

The Dons, in their fourth League Cup semi-final in six years, wanted a 50-50 split and eventually received 20,300 tickets after denouncing their original share of 16,800.

However, sales didn't justify those demands and the Pittodrie club had to hand a chunk back for Rangers supporters to snap up.

Rangers fans will now outnumber those in the Red Army by about three-to-one.

"No harm done," was Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes' assessment earlier this week. "Even for Sir Alex Ferguson's teams in the '80s it was quite consistent - 10,000 in Glasgow."

We had 61,161 fans inside Murrayfield for the first semi-final, with a crowd of around 48,000 expected at Hampden.

Those are impressive numbers for a competition that has been much-maligned in the recent past but has rediscovered its mojo.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hails his team's "outstanding" second-half performance on BBC Sportsound.

"We just said at half-time to show a bit more going forward, open up and move the ball a bit quicker. Once we did that, we really opened up and showed our qualities and ended up disappointed we maybe haven’t had five or six goals," Rodgers said.

"We put Ryan Christie into midfield and both him and (fellow substitute) Scott Sinclair gave us great energy and great quality.

"We’ve seen it before against ourselves, lots of teams sit back and keep it tight and see if something opens up later. Once we get the goal, it really helped us because Hearts have then got to come up and it opens up space for us. It’s a great performance after a tough, tough game in midweek and it gets us into another final.

"Ryan is in the last year of his contract and he’s gone out (on loan) for a purpose, to get experience and have that pressure of playing every week. He did that at Aberdeen. He’s come back and made some great contributions for us.

"He’s got that personality now to come in to such a game and go and impose his quality – his intensity and pressing and defending was very good, and his input into all three goals was sensational. He made the difference when he came on."

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