Since losing twice at Hampden in the 2015-16 season – to Ross County in the League Cup and Rangers in the Scottish Cup – the Hoops have gone on a tear at the national stadium with 17 successive wins.

During that run, which could stretch to 18 if Ange Postecoglou's men beat Rangers on Sunday, they have scored 40 goals for the concession of just 10 and picked up nine major honours along the way.

Here, we delve into the records to give you a quick(ish) breakdown of those 17 matches…

The opponents

Celtic have played only six different teams during the 17-game streak. Aberdeen are the most common foe with five meetings with Rangers (four) second and Hibernian (three) third.

When it comes to which sides have been consistently overrun the most, though, the Hibees might have conceded 11 in three games but the fact the Hoops have restricted the Ibrox side to precisely zero goals (aggregate score of 8-0) across the four Hampden meetings since the start of the 2016-17 season is arguably just as remarkable.

In terms of who appears to give Celtic the best game, both Edinburgh sides have netted four times apiece with the Jambos coming by far the closest to breaking the stranglehold by taking Neil Lennon’s side to penalties in the delayed 2020 Scottish Cup final.

Notably, the Hoops have gone behind only three times during the run and come back to win all three.

The first time was in the 2017 Scottish Cup final where they trailed to Jonny Hayes’s goal before Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic sealed the reversal. Against Hearts in the 2019 showpiece, too, they went a goal down. That time it was Ryan Edwards who scored and then Odsonne Edouard’s turn to shine with a treble treble-securing double. The most recent was just this season, where Paul Hanlon’s League Cup final header was quickly rectified and outshone by Kyogo Furuhashi’s brace.

In all, of the 1653 total minutes Celtic have played throughout their superb national stadium streak, they have been behind for a grand total of 13 of them.

The players

Despite only being at the club for two full seasons, Moussa Dembele is still the most prolific goal-getter throughout the streak. The Frenchman racked up six strikes – and a couple of assists – in just seven matches while also in his total were two match-winners in semi-finals and two final goals.

Trailing Dembele is a group of four: Odsonne Edouard, James Forrest, Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor. The latter trio are, naturally, still able to add to their personal records.

In terms of goals in finals, Edouard tops the lot with three with Dembele, Rogic, Forrest, Ryan Christie and Kyogo Furuhashi all on two.

McGregor’s symmetrical goals and assists totals reinforce the do-it-all captain’s penchant for the big occasion while perhaps a surprise to some will be the otherwise prolific Scott Sinclair’s meagre one goal, one assist return.

When it comes to total goal contributions, however, one man stands alone: Rogic. The Aussie’s four goals and five assists give him nine direct involvements across the 17-game run – even more remarkable given his actual minutes played puts his game-time at the equivalent of just over 10 matches.

The games

The full list of the 17 matches is in the graphic above but for this section we’ve decided to do a mini-list of our top five. These rankings are inarguably highly scientific (a phrase which here means totally opinion-based)…

5. Celtic 1-0 Rangers (2019 League Cup final)

AKA the Fraser Forster final. By most metrics the Hoops should have lost this game – Christopher Jullien’s goal might have been the winner in the scoreline at the end but Forster’s performance between the sticks was the true difference. The stats say Celtic should’ve conceded twice (1.8 xGC) while Forster made eight saves including from an Alfredo Morelos penalty. Seven years previous the goalkeeper’s display against Barcelona earned him the nickname ‘La Gran Muralla’ and drew praise from the great Lionel Messi, who later christened it the best goalkeeping performance he had ever seen and questioned whether he was even human. On December 8 2019, the Rangers players probably thought they knew the answer to that.

4. Celtic 4-0 Rangers (2018 Scottish Cup semi-final)

A semi-final rather than final but the performance merits a mention. Seventeen shots, four different scorers, 64 per cent possession and very little allowed at the other end ensured a spot in the 2018 showpiece en route to a second successive treble. Such was the utterly ruthless nature of Brendan Rodgers’s side’s display in this cup derby, the feeling upon the full-time whistle was part-disbelief that it was only 4-0 by the end.

3. Celtic 3-3 Hearts (2020 Scottish Cup final)

Another entry where the performance isn’t necessarily one for the ages – but when the reward for pulling through to defeat an opponent who just will not stay down is immortality then it deserves a nod. Ryan Christie’s pearler gets somewhat forgotten about given the tit-for-tat nature of what followed but, in an empty Hampden, it was ultimately the grit and poise of serial winners that got Celtic over the line on penalties to seal a quadruple treble and allow the wider support a high to end a year of societal lows.

2. Celtic 2-1 Hibernian (2021 League Cup final)

A big shout and no doubt there is some recency bias at play but the importance of Postecoglou picking up the first trophy available to him is clear. It helped springboard the fledgling unbeaten run into something more and cemented Kyogo Furuhashi’s status as one of the spiritual leaders of the squad. His winning goal combined supreme skill and composure with just the right amount of cheek deserved to win any final but particularly the one dedicated to Bertie Auld.

Kieran Tierney celebrates in 2017

1. Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen (2017 Scottish Cup final)

What else to culminate these mini-rankings but the culmination of the best season in recent Celtic history?

Going behind to Jonny Hayes’s half-volley but immediately responding with a nerve-settling Stuart Armstrong leveller. Kieran Tierney hospitalised by Jayden Stockley’s left elbow. Rogic, deep into injury time, showing more composure than any of the other 21 players or the thousands in the stands to shuffle past Andy Considine and hammer home beyond Joe Lewis at the near post. The celebration. Craig Gordon dropping to his knees. Tierney, broken jaw be damned, reappearing just in time for the trophy lift. Invincible and, for this list, unbeatable.