Celtic must bounce back to win title, says defender Erik Sviatchenko

Erik Sviatchenko says Celtic will not cry over their Scottish Cup heartache and has backed them to secure a fifth successive title.

The Hoops suffered their third straight Hampden semi-final defeat on Sunday when Rangers won 5-4 on penalties after a thrilling 2-2 draw.

Mark Warburton's team will now look complete their own trophy treble when the Championship and Petrofac Training Cup winners take on Hibernian in the final at the national stadium on May 21.

The defeat leaves Ronny Deila's side at their lowest ebb since the Norwegian took charge in the summer of 2014 but with 'five-in-a-row' still to be won Sviatchenko, who scored Celtic's first goal early in the second half, has called on his team-mates to put the disappointment behind them.

Celtic lead the title race by eight points from Aberdeen with five matches remaining and the Denmark international, part of the side which lost to Ross County in the last four of this season's League Cup, insists there is no time for the players to feel sorry for themselves.

"We had hopes for the final," he said. "We were here some months ago in another semi-final and didn't go through. Now we were really close. It went to penalties. We bounced back but of course it's a massive disappointment not to go through.

"Sometimes you play well and sometimes you play not so well. On Sunday, we did not succeed in all the things we wanted to. But we have five finals in the Premiership.

"It's difficult to say that we need to move on but we have two options - one is to go home and cuddle ourselves and cry. But I won't accept that. I will go with the other option, which is to bounce back and win the league title.

"I don't know if we need a wake up call because of this game. We all know that we need to achieve something. We are the biggest club and we want to go through, but it didn't happen for us.

"We have it in our own hands in the league and can still win the title. We hoped to win three trophies but now we will go for the one."  

Hoops boss Deila has come under fire from a number of Celtic fans in the wake of the defeat but Sviatchenko insists the Celtic camp is united in support of the former Stromsgodset coach.

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He said: "I am 100 per cent behind the manager. I won't comment on anything else. This is a massive club but it's the players' game and it us who need to win the matches and we are all behind the manager.

"We will be behind everyone that needs it. But the guys in the team are all strong characters and they will bounce back. At this stage it's quite tough but we are all behind each other and we just need to move on and show character and attitude."