21-05-2025
‘Never been in a final like this' – Aberdeen star admits Celtic Scottish Cup clash is the biggest game of his LIFE
The Dons are looking for their first trophy in over a decade
ONCE IN A LIFETIME 'Never been in a final like this' – Aberdeen star admits Celtic Scottish Cup clash is the biggest game of his LIFE
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TOPI KESKINEN is gearing up for the biggest game of his career at Hampden.
Last summer Aberdeen forked out £860,000 to buy the 22-year-old winger from HJK Helsinki.
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Topi Keskinen will be hoping to fire Aberdeen to glory in the Scottish Cup final
Credit: Andrew Barr
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Keskinen says the final against Celtic will be like nothing he's ever experienced
Credit: PA
That made him the Dons' most expensive player in 20 years.
Since then Keskinen has helped Finland's Under-21s qualify for this summer's Euros in Slovakia for only the second time in their history.
Now he's hoping to round off his debut season at Pittodrie by landing Aberdeen's first Scottish Cup triumph in 35 years.
Keskinen's only other winners' medal was a Finnish League Cup victory for HJK against AC Oulu two years ago.
He said: 'I would say Saturday is the biggest and most important game I've ever played in.
'I've played some big games actually.
'But I've never been in a cup final like this, so it's the biggest, and it's a special feeling playing at Hampden as well.
'I won a cup at Helsinki, but that is a pre-season tournament against other Finnish league teams.
'Usually if you win it you get bad luck when the league starts and it's not that important.
'That's why I didn't like the cups in Finland all that much, because teams there don't really care about them.
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'If you lose the cup you're like, 'OK, now we have fewer games and we can focus on the league'.
'That's the mentality there, but the cup should be like it is in Scotland where you really want to win it.
'It's good to have these important games because they are the best experience with all the hype. It's massive and that's why we need to give a good performance, and show fighting spirit to the fans as well.'
That much is clear as few outside Pittodrie or the Red Army will give Jimmy Thelin's side any chance of denying Celtic their latest Treble.
The Hoops have scored 19 goals in the five previous meetings of the clubs this season.
Six of those came without reply when Keskinen and his team-mates faced them at Hampden in last November's Premier Sports Cup semi-final.
But Aberdeen will cling to the memory of fighting back from 2-0 down to draw at Celtic Park earlier in the campaign.
That and the fact Peter Leven's Dons side pushed Brendan Rodgers men all the way before losing on penalties in last season's Scottish Cup semi.
The Dons took an early lead through Bojan Miovski that day, and Keskinen knows success on Saturday depends on doing something similar.
He added: 'We need to make sure we score when we get our chances because if you don't score, they usually will.
'We made chances early against Celtic, but when we got them we didn't take them.
'It was the same in Helsinki when we played the European games against good teams.
'When quality teams get chances they are likely to score.'
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