Philippe Clement's Rangers side got closer to defeating Celtic than they ever have in the past. But at the end of the day, they did not have enough in the tank to get past the finish line. They came back twice when it had looked like the game was over and the game ended 3-3. But Kasper Schmeichel saved one during the penalties while the Hoops were perfect from the spot. The winning penalty kick came from Daizen Maeda.
That means that Celtic are the Scottish League Cup champions once again. That is the trophy they had failed to win last season while Clement had, months into his run as Rangers boss.
Also, considering Celtic's considerable lead atop the Premiership table, the treble seems to be well and truly on for the Hoops once again. On the other hand, where do the Rangers go from here?
If they had lost in a one-sided game, that might have been the end of Clement's run at Ibrox. But it is hard to see him being shown the exit door after taking it to penalties against a Celtic side that has not lost a meaningful game against the Rangers in almost three seasons now.
Celtic fans will love Philippe Clement's comments after losing final
Clement brought up a penalty incident on the day. As reported by Glasgow World, the Rangers boss said:
"My phone is overloaded with the penalty situation with Cerny. I am getting messages now and that is a decisive moment in the game. He cannot see that moment.
“He didn’t get the communication from VAR to go to the screen which for me is a really weird situation. I didn’t see it at the time. My phone is full of messages from everybody.
“I am focused on my team and those are things I can’t control. I know all of you like to dig deep into things. Maybe it’s a very important moment to dig into, about why there is no communication in a big moment like that and a big decision like that."
But then, Clement decided that he did not want to discuss on the penalty. Instead, it looks like the Rangers might have another moral victory in the bag. The Belgian said:
"I would not like to be here to speak about the penalty. I would like to speak about the team and what they did. Two days less recovery and showing the level physical level they did, the team spirit, mentality, playing some good football.
“I think it was a really good game for Scottish football and that everybody can only be happy about that. But of course we wanted to win the trophy."
Of course, Celtic will be happy to hear that the Rangers are taking the positives from a defeat at the hands of the Hoops once again. The truth is that the Hoops were nowhere near their best on the day and they still had enough in the tank to win against the Ibrox club in a cup final.