MOHAMED ELYOUNOUSSI may have bagged a brace for Celtic in yesterday’s Betfred Cup semi-final win over Hibernian, but the winger likely endured a sleepless night nonetheless. Despite his double, he cut something of a frustrated figure after the match, and not only because Scott Brown rather stole his thunder by scoring a rare double of his own.

The on-loan Southampton man felt he should have scored five against Hibs as Celtic powered into yet another domestic final, coming agonisingly close to at least claiming a hat-trick as a second-half effort came back off the inside of a post and into the arms of Hibs keeper Chris Maxwell.

The worrying thing for Celtic’s opponents though is that Elyounoussi feels he isn’t quite at 100 percent yet, and you get the feeling that it won’t be long before he gets his hands on a match ball after all.

“I have been close twice now for a hat-trick, first in the league and now in the cup,” Elyounoussi said. “So that frustrates me of course.

“I am hungry and I always want to score more goals, but in the end I am happy that we have achieved our goal to get to the final. I am here to score goals but also to win titles.

“I set high standards. As an attacking player I always want to score more. I am happy to have scored two goals, as did Broony, but I always want to score more. I think he was in the box twice and he scored twice, so that’s good for him. I’m happy for him. Especially the second one was good.

“I would say I am getting there [to 100 percent fitness] now. If I had been there, I would have scored four goals probably. I should have scored four or five.

“I’m getting back to where I was. I’m feeling good and the boys are playing me into good positions, I enjoy playing with them and we are in a good place just now.

“In the league, cup, Europa League we are doing well, so it’s a good time to be a Celtic player.”

That almost goes without saying. The win over Hibs brought up their 30th consecutive victory in cup competitions, and although Elyounoussi has only played a small part in that run of late, he has bought into the relentless ethos of Celtic immediately.

“It says a lot about the mentality and the hunger of this team,” he said. “We always want more.

“We had a good start [last night] but we wanted more goals. We wanted to kill the game as early as possible but Hibs were good and made it difficult for us. They came back twice but I felt like we had control.”

It is just as well that this Celtic squad seem to have an insatiable appetite for football, because the big fixtures just keep coming for them. Looming on the horizon now is Thursday night’s trip to Rome to face Lazio, but Elyounoussi says there won’t be anyone on the plane to Italy complaining about tired legs.

“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “We are fit. The coaching staff make sure we are ready for every game, that we recover well. It means we can enjoy this game but we have to focus on the next one.

“I came here to get more minutes, to become a better football player. I think the manager can make me better.”

With such a thirst for the big occasion, it is perhaps little surprise to learn that Elyounoussi is rather hoping that Celtic’s city rivals complete a Glasgow double over the Edinburgh clubs this afternoon.

If Rangers do indeed overcome Hearts at Hampden this afternoon, it will set up a mouthwatering Old Firm final, and the 25-year-old says that it is a match that the Celtic players would relish getting their teeth into.

After all, having already beaten Rangers at Ibrox this year, and with Lazio freshly scalped too, he sees nothing for Celtic to fear.

“Yes [I would like Rangers in the final], why not?” he said. “We are not scared of any team.

“We believe in the players, our coaching staff and the team around us.

“I think it would be nice to play Rangers but it doesn’t really matter to us.”