Daily Times

GLASGOW: Celtic will face Kilmarnock in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup after the holders thrashed Motherwell 4-0 in the last eight on Wednesday. Rangers were less impressive in seeing off Championship side Dundee 1-0 at Ibrox, but did enough to book a last four clash with Aberdeen, who beat Partick Thistle 4-1. Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou again rotated his squad with five changes and it paid dividends. James Forrest, who had scored a hat-trick in Saturday’s 6-1 win over Hibernian, was one of those to drop out and his replacement Liel Abada struck twice.

The Israel international opened the floodgates just before half-time by tapping home Greg Taylor’s cross. Abada then coolly slotted into the corner on the volley before Reo Hatate’s quick feet made it 3-0. Kyogo Furuhashi rounded off the scoring on the rebound after Abada was denied a hat-trick by inches when he hit the post. Rangers made a fast start at Ibrox as Steven Davis opened the scoring after just 10 minutes. However, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were booed off at full-time after failing to turn their dominance into more goals. Aberdeen scored three times in the first 35 minutes at Pittodrie as strikes from Luis Lopes and Hayden Coulson, either side of a Kevin Holt own goal, gave the hosts a commanding lead. Darren Brownlie pulled a goal back for the Championship leaders before Ryan Duncan restored Aberdeen’s three-goal lead. The semi-finals will take place on the weekend of 14 and 15.