Brendan Rodgers takes a tumble while blasting ball in Celtic’s victory against Aberdeen

Last year's runners-up Aberdeen were left stunned as Cameron Carter-Vickers opened the scoring in the 29th minute, breaking the deadlock for Celtic. Just moments later, Kyogo Furuhashi doubled Celtic's advantage to put them in a commanding position.

Daizen Maeda finished off a flowing move to make it three and put Celtic out of sight with just five minutes remaining of the first half at a rocking Hampden Park.

Undoubtedly the moment of the first period, though, came in injury time when the ball fell to Celtic boss Rodgers, who took an almighty swipe at the ball after his side had given away possession.

Rodgers made decent contact with this left boot but the slippery conditions did him absolutely no favours and loud cheers echoed around the stadium as the Northern Irishman lost his footing and landed heavily on his backside in his technical area.

Referee Kevin Clancy rubbed further salt in the wound by jokingly booking a red-faced Rodgers, who was, thankfully, able to see the funny side.

Even Aberdeen’s Topi Keskinen had a laugh at Rodgers’ expense before play resumed towards the end of an entertaining opening 45 minutes in Glasgow.

Fortunately, the former Liverpool manager was not seriously hurt and the Hoops went on to increase the deficit in the second half, with Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn joining the fun and Maeda completing a hat-trick.

Celtic will do battle in this year’s final against either Motherwell or defending champions Rangers, who face off at Hampden Park tomorrow afternoon.

The iconic stadium will also host the final of the competition on December 15.

More to follow.