Aussies Abroad: Cup success for Rogic, Mabil scores in Denmark

Caltex Socceroos playmaker Tom Rogic has added another winner’s medal to his collection with Celtic, while Awer Mabil was on the scoresheet in an important win for his club in Denmark.

Rogic’s Celtic secured the season’s first piece of silverware in Scotland, beating Aberdeen 1-0 at Hampden Park to lift the League Cup.

After his man-of-the-match performance in the Europa League on Friday (AEDT), Rogic started for the Hoops and almost opened the scoring on five minutes but his curling, left-foot strike hit the post.

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Celtic dominated and got the decisive goal in first-half stoppage-time through Ryan Christie.

Rogic was substituted midway through the second half, with Brendan Rodgers’ side holding on to lift another trophy, with the club looking to win a domestic treble for a third straight season.

“I take great pride in the fact we’ve now won seven trophies in a row, and it feels great, but my happiness is more for the players and the supporters,” Rodgers said.

“The players deserve a huge amount of credit because they’ve been amazing since I’ve come in.”


Rogic wasn’t the only Aussie to taste success overnight, with Mabil playing a crucial role in FC Midtjylland’s 2-1 win at Randers.

It took just 124 seconds for the Caltex Socceroos winger to open the scoring, racing onto a through-ball before producing a classy dink over the advancing goalkeeper.

It was the 23-year-old’s fifth goal of the campaign and keeps his side right on the tail of league-leaders FC Copenhagen, just three points behind in second spot.


Elsewhere, goalkeeper Danny Vukovic was at his best for Genk who battled hard for a 1-0 win away at Anderlecht in Belgium.

Genk had to absorb a lot of pressure and had their Aussie gloveman to thank for keeping them in the match, with Vukovic making four key saves.

In the end, a 71st-minute strike from Pozuelo saw Genk take all three points to maintain their four-point lead over Club Brugge at the top of the ladder in Belgium.


Milos Degenek’s Red Star Belgrade is also at the summit in Serbia, registering another valuable three points by beating Vozdovac 2-0 overnight.

The Caltex Socceroos defender started again as Red Star cruised to a comfortable victory with two goals inside the first 33 minutes, opening up a nine-point lead at the top of the table.

Fellow defender Matt Jurman also got through 90 minutes with Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, with his side coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Al Hazm.

In the Netherlands, Trent Sainsbury and Aziz Behich both watched from the bench as PSV suffered their first defeat of the Eredivisie season, losing 2-1 at Feyenoord.

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