Exclusive:Aberdeen cult hero has plan to leave Celtic Treble in tatters as Hoops warned of ways Dons will plot downfall

Aberdeen are gearing up for their first Scottish Cup final appearance since 2017 - and a Pittodrie cult hero is adamant Jimmy Thelin’s side can upset the odds by dashing Celtic’s dream of clinching a record-breaking ninth domestic Treble.

The Dons head for Hampden Park on Saturday as massive underdogs, with the seven-time competition winners having failed to get their hands on the famous old trophy in 35 years.

To make their task even more daunting this weekend, they will come up against Brendan Rodgers’ all-conquering Hoops side less than a fortnight after finding themselves on the receiving end of a 5-1 drubbing in the North East in their penultimate league game of the season.

Aberdeen also crashed to a heavy 6-0 League Cup semi-final defeat in Mount Florida back in November. But despite their disappointing end to the Premiership season, Theo ten Caat believes his old club must banish their recent hidings against the champions from their memory if they’re to stand any chance of laying a glove on Rodgers’ men.

The former Dutch striker - who spent three seasons in the North East between 1991 and 1994 - insists mentality will be key to Aberdeen’s success and has hatched a plan that he feels should be deployed by Thelin and his players at the national stadium.

Speaking exclusively to GlasgowWorld, ten Caat said: “In football, you never know. Celtic are obviously the strong favourites and Jimmy Thelin’s tactics will be really important. He's working with his players every day so he knows what to expect from them.

“What will he choose to do? Is he going to ask his players to sit back and hit Celtic on the counter-attack or is he going to try to apply pressure a bit? If you stay in your own half of the pitch and try to break on the counter, you have to know you’re opponents strengths and weaknesses.

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“Are they small? Are they fast? Are your own players capable of producing a good counter-attack against a team like Celtic? You have to think about that. If not, don't do it. Then you have to try to take control of the game in certain parts without losing that defensive structure. So it's always a difficult balance.

“As a striker, I always used to say that every player in my team is a defender but not every player is an attacker. If the ball is in the final third, I need four or five teammates behind me who have to think defensively. That's sometimes difficult because they're often ball-watching.

“I want to see where my opponent is, where he is going? Am I able to put pressure on when we lose the ball? There will be certain times when Aberdeen lose the ball, so you have to get in their faces, make it tight and compact at the back because then it's easier to defend as a back three or a four.

“Everybody must think like a defender. The players will know that they have to defend better than they have done in recent games. It starts from the front, midfield, back. The more problems you give them in the build-up, the easier the midfielders get it and the easier the defenders get it. That's the reason why everybody is a defender in my eyes.

“But attacking-wise, if the ball is in their box, the Aberdeen players have to focus on their first task and that's to be aware of what's happening in front of them. They need to think mentally about becoming hard to beat. Even great teams sometimes lose that and I can't understand it.

“If you're such a good football player, it's not that difficult. But sometimes they're losing that ability, ball-watching, instead of focusing on the man. A ball never scores a goal... it's always the man who scores the goal.”