Vil Sinisalo is hoping for another special Hampden memory on Sunday | OneFootball

Celtic return to Hampden Park on Sunday (April 20, K.O 3pm) for the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, with St Johnstone standing between the Celts and a place in the Scottish Cup final.

With Kasper Schmeichel still recovering from injury, Viljami Sinisalo will be between the sticks for the Hoops after having impressed in his recent appearances.

And speaking to the media today (Friday), Sinisalo says that he is enjoying getting some valuable playing time as he looked ahead to what he says will be a difficult test against a St Johnstone side who took three points off Celtic just a few weeks ago.

“I’m loving every minute of it (playing),” he said. “For goalkeepers, the more you play, you’ll probably get better as games go on.

“There’s things I want to do better and I’m probably my biggest critic. I want to be excellent in the way I play, and the more you play, the better you get.

“I play with my heart on my sleeve and hopefully people can see that.

“We’re expecting a tough game on Sunday. They’ve proved that they can compete when we played them at their place.

“We know them, we’ve played against them a few times this season.

“Every game is a tough game, anything can happen in football so we have to be on our game, compete first and foremost and hopefully the result will follow.

This won’t be the Finnish keeper’s first experience of Hampden Park, having already featured there for his country in an international against Scotland last summer.

And, given his fond memories of that match, Sinisalo says he is excited to return to the National Stadium and is hoping that he can add to his previous positive result with a victory on Sunday.

He added: “Everyone is looking forward to the game. I’ve played at Hampden once before and I’m very much looking forward to it.

“I wasn’t meant to play in that game but the keeper done something just before half time.

“I was in the changing room and I got a tap on the shoulder to say I was coming on.

“It was the biggest game I had been involved in at that time in my career.

“We went down 2-0 and pulled it back to 2-2. They’re great memories and hopefully we can create some more on Sunday.”

More pre-match build up

MATCH CENTRE

Fixtures

St. Johnstone Vs. Celtic - Sun, Apr 20th 2025, 15:00