LEIGH Griffiths believes Celtic must make nullifying the threat posed by free-scoring striker Sam Cosgrove a priority to overcome Aberdeen in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden tomorrow.
Cosgrove, who has been sidelined with a knee cartilage injury, made his first appearance of the 2020/21 campaign when he came off the bench at Pittodrie last weekend.
The Englishman helped Derek McInnes’s side to earn a 3-3 draw with Neil Lennon’s side in the Premiership fixture.
Griffiths knows the 6ft 2in forward, who has finished the last two seasons as Aberdeen’s top scorer with 21 and 23 goals, is capable of causing the Celtic defence serious problems.
The Parkhead club look set to be without Kristoffer Ajer, who limped off in the 2-2 draw with Lille in France on Thursday night, and his fellow centre half Christopher Jullien, who has a back injury, tomorrow.
“They’ve assembled a good squad and Derek McInnes’ sides are always well organised,” said the Scotland internationalist.
“Cosgrove is a big focal point for them up front and getting him back is a big boost for them. He is a handful. He likes to get in the box, score goals and make things happen.
“Jonny (Hayes) was with us for a few seasons and is a great player. They’ve also got two boys in midfield, (Ross) McCrorie and (Lewis) Ferguson, and they make it difficult for you.
“So they’ve got a few good players. We know every year the challenge gets harder and Aberdeen will make things really difficult for us.
“But we’ve got a lot of good players here as well with plenty of quality. We’ll need to turn up with the right attitude and make sure that everybody’s on point.
“We’ll need to make sure that we bring our A game on Sunday afternoon, make sure there are no mistakes and make sure that by the end we are in the final.”
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