Legendary Aberdeen goalkeeper Theo Snelders says he feared he would have to take a penalty in the dramatic 1990 Scottish Cup final shoot-out win.
The Dons ultimately edged out Celtic 9-8 on spot-kicks as Snelders saved a penalty from Anton Rogan.
Aberdeen defender Brian Irvine then netted his spot-kick to secure the trophy.
All 10 outfield players had taken penalties before Irvine’s winner and Snelders knew the keepers would be next.
Aberdeen will bid to win the Scottish Cup for the first time since 1990 when facing Celtic at Hampden on Saturday.
Snelders, 61, said: “In a penalty shoot-out you never think the keepers will have to take one, but it started to look like we would.
“I remember when we passed one another Pat Bonner (Celtic keeper) said to me we’ll be up soon.
“If I hadn’t saved from Rogan and Brian scored, the goalies were next because all outfield players had been.
“I thought about the possibility of it going to a shoot-out so I wrote down the penalties Celtic had taken before.
“The first time I really saw something similar was in the (2021) Europa League final when Manchester United lost to Villarreal (11-10 on penalties).
“David De Gea’s penalty was saved in a shootout that was similar to the 1990 Scottish Cup final.”
Winning the Scottish Cup completed a domestic double for Aberdeen in the 1989-90 season having already secured the League Cup.
Mechanics of saving the penalty
Snelders was signed by Aberdeen boss Alex Smith in a £300,000 transfer from Dutch club Twente Enschede in 1988.
The Dutch keeper was secured as a replacement for Jim Leighton who had been signed for Manchester United by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Snelders said: “Winning the Scottish Cup is the most memorable moment of my career.
“For the penalty save, the only thing that was going through my mind was that a right-footer would shoot to my right over his standing leg.
“And a left footer would kick over his standing leg to my left corner.
“If you really look closely on YouTube at the clip from the penalty shoot-out, you see a Celtic fan being taken off on a stretcher.
“He was being taken down the side of the pitch.
“You can see he is injured, but he looks up for the penalty and when I saved it he slumps back down.
“For a goalie you can only win in a penalty shoot-out.”
In the regulation five spot kicks Aberdeen and Celtic both failed to score once with Dariusz Wdowczyk for Celtic and Brian Grant for Aberdeen.
Urging the fans to ramp up the noise
It then effectively became a nerve-shredding sudden death shootout for the silverware.
With each successive spot-kick the anxiety of the fans ramped up as did the decibel level within the stadium.
Snelders did his utmost to fire up the Dons support to out-sing Celtic.
And also delay the time before Rogan could take his penalty.
He said: “The noise was incredible because the Aberdeen fans were under the roof.
“When (19-year-old) Graham Watson came up for his penalty I saw the Celtic players winding up the Celtic crowd.
“But luckily our fans were behind the goal where the penalties were taken.
“So when Graham scored it was more like a one-two between the fans and myself.
“I was asking them to make even more noise.
“The referee George Smith walked over to me and he told me I couldn’t do that.
“I said, ‘oh, sorry, sorry’.
“But the thing was that Rogan had to wait longer and longer which was not in his favour.
“And the crowd were making so much noise.”
Reuniting with 1990 cup legends
Snelders will appear on stage at the Music Hall tonight along with fellow 1990 Scottish Cup winning stars Alex McLeish, Hans Gillhaus, Charlie Nicholas and Brian Irvine.
The legends will appear in a “1990: The Legends Return” event.
Snelders said: “What a team Aberdeen had then.
“Quality players and great people which made it all the more remarkable and enjoyable.
“I look back at that as the best time of my football career and Aberdeen also have a Scottish Cup final to look forward to.”
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