Celtic manager Ronny Deila says his side have “unfinished business” in the Scottish Cup after they were paired with Old Firm rivals Rangers in the draw for the semi-finals.
The Hoops booked their place in the last four with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of Championship side Greenock Morton on Sunday while Rangers demolished Dundee 4-0 in their quarter-final on Saturday.
Deila has led the Parkhead club to four cup semi-finals in his two seasons in charge but lost out on a place in last year’s Scottish Cup final to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who went on to win the competition.
And the Celtic manager is determined to claim the one trophy that has eluded him since his arrival from Norway in June 2014.
“We have unfinished business in the Scottish Cup. Now we are in our fourth semi-final in two years and that’s quite a good thing,” Deila, whose side will take on Rangers on April 16 or 17, said. “We will do everything to get a trophy.”
Standing in Celtic’s way are Glasgow rivals Rangers in what will be only the second Old Firm meeting since 2012, when the Ibrox club were forced to start life in the country’s bottom division following financial meltdown.
Deila led the Hoops to a 2-0 League Cup semi-final win over Rangers last season but the Gers have been transformed under new manager Mark Warburton and hold a 12-point lead at the top of the Championship as they look on track to return to the top flight next season.
However, the Celtic manager said he was not bothered about who his side faced and insisted the sole focus is on winning the Cup.
“For me it’s about winning the trophy, that’s the important thing, and we’ll take what comes in front of us,” he said. “We have to beat everybody to win the trophy and we’re eager for that. Now we have two games left and hopefully we can win it.”
The win against Morton eased the pressure on Deila, who has come in for criticism for some of his side’s lacklustre displays in recent weeks.        
“We’ve had a rough period. We haven’t lost so much but we haven’t played well,” the Celtic boss admitted.
“I’m my biggest critic here but I’ve been in this game a long time and when everything is crazy around you, you have to stay calm.
“The players here are winners and hate losing or performing badly. I’m proud of how they did it, it’s something we’ll build on and I’m happy for the players that they played the way they did.”
It will be a first taste of the Old Firm fixture for Gers gaffer Warburton but he claims the league campaign needs to be his priority in the coming weeks.
“I understand fully that it is a good draw for the fans, and all the teams left in the competition were good, high-calibre teams, and whoever we drew was going to be a tough challenge,” Warburton told the Rangers website.
“Yes, it’s a game to look forward to, absolutely, but our priority has to be the league campaign. It’s not going to be a ‘massive build-up’ either in the camp—it’s going to be all about our league campaign, and when the game comes around, then we can focus on it at the right time.”
In the other semi-final, Premiership bottom club Dundee United, who defeated Ross County 3-2 on Saturday, will take on Hibernian or Inverness after the sides played out a 1-1 draw at Easter Road on Sunday.