THE image is already iconic. Craig Gordon, the triumphant Celtic goalkeeper, slumped to his knees on the Hampden turf with his arms raised in jubilation as 25,000 Hoops fans go berserk in the background.
Tom Rogic had just scored the injury-time goal that had finally seen off a gallant Aberdeen resistance, and his goalkeeper felt the same mixture of joy and relief as any punter in the stands.
“We’d been knocking on the door for the last 10 or 15 minutes and I thought it was going to maybe go into extra time,” Gordon said.
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“We felt as if we were in control, but you never know – there’s always one counter-attack that can lead to a goal.
“They had a few chances in the game and both goalkeepers had to make a few saves.
“It was quite open, so we were never in full control although I felt we were the team more likely to go and win it.
“It was just a massive relief to get the goal towards the end.”
Gordon can hardly believe the situation he now finds himself in as a Treble-winner, when not so very long ago he looked to have played his last game in professional football.
With his injury problems now firmly in the past, he can look back at the effort he put into his long rehabilitation with justifiable pride, and feel that it was truly worth it.
“That [retirement] was close – so to come back and achieve something like this, I could never have hoped for this.
“At one point, I was just hoping I could get another game of football.
“To go and play in an undefeated season with three cups, you can’t get any better.”
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Taking Gordon’s injury struggles into account, it is perhaps unsurprising he was unfazed by a spell out of the Celtic starting XI earlier in the season, when manager Brendan Rodgers drafted in Dorus de Vries.
He took his manager’s promptings to improve his footwork and distribution on board, fought his way back into the side, and has never looked back.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster even this season, to fight my way back,” he said.
“But every time I’ve been asked to, I’ve managed to do it.
“So that’s a great achievement, one I’m very happy about and I’m sure I’ll remember this season for the rest of my days.”
The only problem with such a successful season is figuring out how you top it in the next campaign, but Gordon has never been one for resting on his laurels.
While improving on an unbeaten domestic season is nigh-on impossible, he believes that there is an opportunity for an improved showing in European competition.
“How do you go about beating that? Undefeated season, three trophies. We couldn’t have done a great deal more than that,” he said.
“But we have to try to go into Europe and do even
better. To go and qualify for the next stage would be an improvement.”
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