Celtic’s invincible season in pictures

It will never come close to the magic of Lisbon but in years to come Celtic’s 2016/17 season will be ranked alongside the Centenary Double and Seville seasons.

After a stumble in Gibraltar Brendan Rodgers has delivered a season that few Celtic fans could have contemplated 12 months ago.

One year and one day ago the Irishman was announced as Celtic manager with every area of the club revived over the past 12 months.

Incredibly the playing revolution has been achieved with the addition of just two players- Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair.

When they next update the Big Book of Football Management there should be chapters devoted to James Forrest, Stuart Armstrong, Mikael Lustig and Dedryck Boyata.

The changes that Rodgers has brought to Celtic have been backed 100% by the fans as they watch a group of players develop and improve on a weekly basis delivering the type of results that have made the Monday morning workplace a place of joy for Celts fans.

The story is only beginning, it’s not near the end but the first chapter concludes on Saturday at Hampden in the final of the Scottish Cup with Aberdeen in the way of a treble.

RODGERS v WARBURTON

The shadow of last season’s Scottish Cup penalty kick defeat to Rangers still hung over Celtic by the time Mark Warburton’s side arrived at Celtic Park in September.

After a Moussa Dembele inspired 5-1 hammering Warburton’s dream fell apart with Celtic up off and running well on their way to a sixth title.

SCOTTY SINCLAIR- WHAT A SIGNING

By the time that he tucked away this match winner at Ibrox the Celtic support was already deeply in love with Scotty and celebrating him in song. Rarely has a £3.5m transfer fee been more effective.

DEFEAT IN HAPOEL!

We don’t care if we win lose or draw, that line was certainly true in Israel as a 2-0 defeat was celebrated mightily. After the nightmares of Maribor and Malmo the Israeli side Hapoel Beer Sheva only narrowly missed out on joining that list.

BETFRED CUP WINNERS 2017

Despite all the plaudits and praise that they received at the start of the season Brendan Rodgers wanted something tangible- he got it at Hampden as Celtic swept Aberdeen aside 3-0 to lift the first trophy of the season.

ROD ENJOYS THE HUDDLE

When Rod is doing the huddle in the Directors Box you know something special is happening! Behind him Celtic were winning 5-1, a legend was launched called Moussa Dembele and the no mark that it Joey Barton was playing his last match in that proud blue shirt…

JINGLE ALL WAY

A festive win at Ibrox is always worth celebrating and after a five year wait happy hoops fans even left scented candles in the decaying toilets.

On the park the shock of Kenny Miller scoring was cancelled out by Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair to bring the curtain down on a very memorable year.

THAT’S WHY WE’RE CHAMPIONS

The title was wrapped up in style with a 5-0 win at Tybecastle with most of the goals coming in front of the pocket of away fans.

The after natch celebrations were a little low key but there was no doubting how much it meant to the boss as he got his hands on the SPFL title- a few days later he signed up for 10-in-a-row.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RETURN

We had all missed out too much and the look on Broony’s face said it all.

It looked like shooty in as Celtic went 3-0 up but once Hapoel pulled it back to 3-2 it looked like a rerun of an old uncomfortable movie but led by the skipper Celtic bounced back to win 5-2.

DID HE REALLY DO THAT?

It was the night that defined a season for two clubs- Celtic haven’t looked back and Manchester City have still to recover.

With this goal Moussa Dembele announced himself to the footballing world- the Champions League is his stage.

GOAL IN GLADBACH

Another defining moment, another goal from Moussa Dembele.

After being outplayed in a 2-0 home defeat from Borussia Monchengladbach Celtic showed that they were quick learners with a mature performance in Germany that could have yielded three rather than one point.

CALLUM MCGREGOR

He’s never had it easy but is now playing with incredible confidence with four goals in less than a month.

This strike at Ibrox wasn’t the best of the bunch, the other three may be more spectacular but Celtic player’s can be defined by their performances at Ibrox and Callum is a player.

JAMES FORREST

For the majority of the season he’s held off the competition of Patrick Roberts.

Alongside Dedryck Boyata Forrest has been the most unlikely success story that Rodgers has created with the winger finally putting together all the promise he’s shown over the last half dozen seasons.

ROBERTS RETURNS TO MANCHESTER CITY

It’s been one of the big questions over the last few months and will continue through the close season.

Patrick Roberts is developing into an exceptional talent, will a way be found to have him at Celtic next season- on a permanent basis- or will it be thanks for the memories?

OWNING IBROX- GLASGOW IS GREEN AND WHITE

This picture sums up the season as Callum McGregor is mobbed at Ibrox celebrating the third goal in a 5-1 rout.

After a straightforward win at Hampden six days earlier this was the icing on the cake as thousands of home fans walked away unable to take any more.

STUART ARMSTRONG

Since getting into the side there has been no stopping the former Dundee United man.

Last season’s drowning performances have been forgotten as he dominates and drives from midfield with a healthy sprinkling of goals with this one at Tynecastle typical of the man.

MOUSSA’S HAMPDEN MAGIC

The 1-0 scoreline on the Betfred Cup semi-final win over Sevco barely tells the story of the match.

Celtic were more dominant than they had been in the 5-1 league win but had to wait until the 88th minute to clinch the game with this classy strike from Moussa Dembele.

FORGET IT BROTHER PEDRO

All the soothing soundbites in the world count for nothing when your team cross that white line.

His sophisticated accent may have charmed the Ibrox directors but on the touchline Pedro Caixinha was cruelly exposed twice in a week as Celtic dished out back to back hammerings.

HONEST MISTAKES

Despite the success of the side Celtic have been successful despite being the victims of incredible honest mistakes.

In this incident Bobby Madden failed to award a late penalty, Don Robertson and Alex Schalk will be remembered, Ryan Bowman almost ended Kieran Tierney’s career while brutal attacks on Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts on a regular basis largely went unpunished.

INVINCIBLE

The invincible season is confirmed with a 2-0 win over Hearts and Efe Ambrose can’t hold back his joy.