Let alone the Easter Bunny. In Daizen Maeda, Celtic has a player who has much more in common with the Duracell Bunny.
In this demolition of five goals from St. Johnstone in the semi -final of the Scottish Cup, the ruthless Maeda scored twice to ensure that Celtic stays on track to win another Treble.
The Japanese striker now has 34 goals this season for Club and Country, which underlines his references as the likely winner of the PFA Scotland Player of the Year of this season.
Taken his two goals cleverly, one with his right foot and the other with his left-to-left in a 12-minute Blitz in the first half that blew St. Johnstone away and killed the draw.
The men of Simo Valakari had beaten Celtic 1-0 in Perth in premiership, but the chances of lightning that stood twice always looked slim.
From the moment that Schipper Callum McGregor set them up for 34 minutes, this was little more than a walk in the Sunday sun in Mount Florida for Brendan Rodgers' Cup holders.
And so the remarkable record of Rodgers remains in the Scottish Cup. He never lost in this competition about his two spells in Glasgow and won all 21 games.
Celtic will now be confronted with Aberdeen in Hampden in the final on 24 May, red -hot favorites to make it a clean sweeps of trophies among rodgers.
After that shocking in Perth, Rodgers had been very critical of the performance of his team and indicated that major changes will take place in the summer. That will be on time. But in the here and now this was essentially a revenge mission. Completely merciless, they have dismantled St Johnstone in an extensive way.
The saints have won this competition twice in the last 11 years, including a famous cup in 2021, but they were set aside yesterday as an irrelevance.
The priority for Valakari and his players must now be to reorient their efforts in their attempt to escape relegation.
St. Johnstone had won 1-0 on the way to Hampden every match, and beating Celtic through that score two weeks ago, but they were battered on this occasion.
Playing on the tight, bumpy surface in McDiarmid Park was essentially a different sport than what unfolded on the manicured expansions in Hampden.
At the end of a week that one of the players of Celtic had seen in an unwise episode at the back of a taxi, it was St Johnstone who felt a bit green around the gills.
Rodgers stuck with the same team that beat Kilmarnock 5-1 last weekend, which meant that James Forrest and Adam Idah both retained their places for Nicolas Kuhn and Jota.
St. Johnstone had a shortage of bodies in the defense, in which the midfielder Sven Sprangler had to fall into the back, while Veteran -striker Nicky Clark was also brought in front.
While the teams from the tunnel came to a sun -drenched hampkered, it probably felt like a home game for Celtic because of the overwhelming sea of ​​greenery everywhere.
For a Scottish cup semi-final in the National Stadium, and with a kick-off at 3 p.m., the St Johnstone section was sparsely populated with around 3,000 gamblers.
Two small bags of blue were tucked away in a corner, one of which was floured early in the game after their fans had surrendered to an exhibition of Pyrotechniek.
Hoping for a repeat performance from two weeks ago, Saints -Baas Valakari would have been relatively satisfied with what he saw in the early stages.
Although his team camped deeply and had to defend a lot, they limited Celtic to a few speculative long -distance efforts.
A McGregor Daisy-Cutter stuck the palms of Andy Fisher, while Arne Engels goaled an attempt after a smart twist and swivel on the edge of the box.
In the recent 1-0 win in Perth, St. Johnstone had scored early through Daniels Balodis and held it because of a result that the competition table of this upper versus bottom had.
But this time they grabbed spectacularly and lost four goals in a ten -minute burst just before the break when Celtic basically killed the draw.
McGregor started the route at 34 minutes, with the defense of the saints and the Celtic skipper invited to curl a precise finish far beyond Fisher's reach.
Only four minutes later Maeda made it 2-0. Sam Curtis ran on a McGregor ball that did not exclude Sam Curtis and grabbed Maeda in the far corner.
It changed quickly to a hammering, with Idah turned up close from a reo -hate cuts after a good pass from Liam Scales had cut St Johnstone.
Maeda then got his second of the afternoon, because the defense of St. Johnstone was again from the Celtic striker and allowed him to drill a left-foot shot outside of Fisher from the box.
With their day ruined and their team argues for grace, some St Johnstone fans went to the outputs while the half-time whistle sounded. They missed what almost a brilliant comfort was 10 minutes in the second half when Kirk, as a sub during the break, made Lased in the top corner from 25 meters.
But VAR would deny the St Johnstone-Man his moment of glory after Balodis was supposed to have polluted Idah with a push in the back during the structure.
It has been a strange week for Idah. Even in the demolition of Kilmarnock last weekend, his performance was bad and new questions were asked.
During the week, images of the £ 9 million striker of Celtic had emerged who looked worse for wear at the back of a taxi, although Rodgers emphasized yesterday that Idah had not surrendered in the clip.
It was probably Valakari who started to feel a bit nauseous when the game progressed, especially when Celtic brought the cavalry from Kuhn, Jota and Luke McCowan to the hour.
Barely five minutes after their introduction, Kuhn Alistair Johnston passed the ball to the distant pole, where Jota came to steam to convert and bring 5-0.
At this point, if it had been a boxing match, the referee would have stopped. Battered and tired, there was a danger that this can still cause damage to St. Johnstone in their attempt to prevent relegation.
Uche Ikpeazu came from the bank for a long -awaited debut after an injury nightmare since last summer came, but it was a lost business.
Where Maeda had been decisive with two goals, his countryman Hataat was no less impressive and finally ended with three assists by the time he left the field.
While the Celtic fans spread to the late afternoon sun, they might enjoy the last hour or two in a nearby beer garden on Easter Sunday.
As far as St Johnstone is concerned, it has long been clear that this would be an afternoon where worries should be drowned.