Michael Beale has created a lot of controversy since his arrival as the manager of the Rangers. Thus, heading into the Scottish League Cup final, the pressure was on him and his team to deliver. Unfortunately they could not, as Celtic walked out of Hampden Park with a 2-1 win, thanks to a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi.
The result appeared to change the opinions of a lot of the Rangers fans as well, regarding Beale. Not too long ago, he could do no wrong. But his team selection was heavily criticised by their supporters on social media, with many even pointing towards it as the reason why the Ibrox side lost.
Beale took the big decision of starting John Lundstram on the day, even though he had been dealing with an injury problem leading up to the game. On the other hand, January signings Todd Cantwell and Nicolas Raskin were left on the bench and only brought on as substitutes later.
Frank McAvennie did not seem to be a big fan of Beale’s selection in the League Cup final either. As reported Football Insider, the former Celtic star said:
"“You can’t go up against a Celtic team who is on fire and pick the wrong team.“It is not as if he did not know what he was getting with Celtic. Everyone in the country knows what you are getting.“I do not think it was a good game, it was good in the sense that Celtic won but it was not a classic. There were eight bookings but they all came at the end.“"
Celtic hero slams Beale’s decision in League Cup final
There had been a lot of hype surrounding the League Cup final this time around. Of course, it was the Glasgow Derby. But on top of that, the results of the two teams after the World Cup break had been very similar.
Thus, many of the Rangers fans seemed to believe that Beale was the one to topple Celtic in the final. Unfortunately for them, that did not turn out to be the case this time around.
Just like last season, a brace from Kyogo Furuhashi was enough to win Celtic the Scottish League Cup. Alfredo Morelos did find the back of the net but it was all for nothing.