Of the many ways to prepare for a cup final, white-water rafting would perhaps feature in the "lesser seen" category.

But, in 2000, it was the pre-match activity of choice for former Celtic star Vidar Riseth.

Given a few days off before the League Cup showpiece against Aberdeen, the Norwegian took a far less relaxed approach to gearing up for a trip to Hampden.

Riseth was snapped in the Highlands and the story was splashed (pardon the pun) across national newspapers.

So, when he was summoned to Kenny Dalglish's office the following day, the Parkhead utility man must've feared the worst.

The manager, however, took a more laid back approach than the team-mates who chastised him in the dressing room.

Riseth told The Daily Mail: "They say Norwegians are born with skies on their legs.

"As soon as you can walk, you start to ski. Being in the mountains, rafting and everything else, is normal in Norway.

"We had a few days off before the final. I had a good friend with me at the time and I said to him that I wanted to go the mountains and go rafting.

"He was like: 'Rafting?' 'Yeah, rafting' 'Okay, let's do it'.

We got up to the place to make the booking. I went to the toilet but when I came back I see the guy running.

"I think maybe he phoned up the newspaper.

"We said we were ready to go but he was like: 'No, no, you must have your coffee, take your time.'

"Now I guess he was waiting to make sure the journalists could find the best spot.

"When we came down the river, they could try and get a picture where there is a lot of water and we had to jump up with the boat.

"It wasn't scary or dangerous. Just something I'd done maybe 50 or 100 times before.

"But there it was in the paper the next day. So I go to training and and some of the guys are like: 'What have you done? You've been rafting? You can't do that before a cup final!'

"Kenny told me to go into his office. He asked if I had done it. He listened and said it was good I had been so honest with him.

"He told me: 'Look, this is the kind of sport we don't normally do. But you are the viking from Norway who knows these things, so you can. But the rest of the players? No!'

"It was a great response. And he said the same when we went to the press conference. It was all good fun, really."

It certainly didn't matter in the long run - Celtic won 2-0 and Riseth scored the opener.