Jimmy Thelin sounds Aberdeen battle cry as Swede demands belief that they WILL topple Celtic

Get the latest Daily Record breaking news on WhatsApp

Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info

Join us on WhatsApp

Jimmy Thelin has told his unbeaten Aberdeen stars to head to Hampden on Saturday believing they will topple Celtic and book their place in the Premier Sports Cup Final.

The Dons go to the national stadium on the back of a 16-game unbeaten run, which included them taking out league rivals Rangers on Wednesday. Aberdeen came back from 2-0 down to salvage a draw at Celtic Park and Thelin knows his players have to have the confidence they can go one step further and beat Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The Swedish manager, who is looking to lift his first major trophy, admitted: “First of all, we need a good performance on Saturday. It’s a semi-final, we know it’s a cup, if you lose you’re out.If you win you go to the final, but the focus should be a good performance and giving everything we have and then let’s see the result.

“But everybody has to believe that they can do it. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary to play the game. So we have a strong belief that we know it’s going to be a tough game. We have to go 100 per cent in with a strong belief we can make it.”

The game will be Thelin’s first visit to Hampden and if they could get to the final it would put the seal on a glory run. The Swede has an impressive managerial CV but he has never won a top-flight trophy and that is something he would love to achieve at Aberdeen.

He explained: “Yeah, I think it’s (winning) for everyone that’s working there everybody wants to win something, but the nicest thing is to see how the players grow, how we create a strong team spirit and how we can try to build this capacity that we can give us a chance of winning.

“Sometimes you can have a really good performance but you miss with a touch or whatever, but to see and create this togetherness and the spirit that we can give us a chance to do this kind of thing is what I want.”

Thelin had twice been to semi-finals before and now he is hoping it is third time lucky. He previously lost two at Elfsborg to IFK Gothenburg in 2021-22 and Hammarby two years ago in the Svenska Cup.

He recalled: “Let’s see here, yeah, I lost to one team, Gothenburg, in extra time. It was not so nice, so, hopefully, it’s better next time. (Hammarby), yeah, remind me a lot of things now.

“Yeah, I can’t remember now, but we were quite good in, but, yeah, it is what it is. No, I think like, for me, it’s more about again like, as long as you work in this business you can’t think about what you have achieved or not achieved.

“You have to just be hungry where you are and it’s a new context, a new club and a new team I work with. We have to use the opportunities we have here, I don’t think about what I missed before. It’s not that for me.”

The Dons have also been boosted with the news Kevin Nisbet will return to training today. The Scotland striker has missed the last couple of games with a muscle injury. Duk came off with cramp against Rangers with cramp, but is fine.

Thelin confirmed: “The medical team did an amazing job this morning and everybody is ready to go, and even Kevin was out, and he’s going to train fully tomorrow, so that’s good. So we have everybody prepared for the game.”

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.