Scottish League Cup final: ‘Switch flicked’ in ‘good final’ but Rangers still left with regrets

For now, the only case Clement is putting forward is to ask why his side were not awarded a penalty in the second half.

Vaclav Cerny’s shirt was tugged and his foot clipped by Scales and he was awarded a free kick just outside the Celtic box.

However, Clement says he received “hundreds of messages” about the incident, suggesting the foul was on the line of the box and should have been a penalty.

“I don’t know if you saw the images back, but my phone is overloaded with the penalty situation,” the Rangers manager said.

“I’ve had hundreds of messages about that decisive moment. The referee cannot see that moment, but he didn’t get the VAR communication to come to the screen, which is weird for me.”

What was out of sorts for McCann and fellow Sportscene pundit Scott Allan, though, was the lack of outrage from those in blue.

McCann was “amazed the Rangers players weren’t going berserk,” while Allan was perplexed that “Cerny didn’t make much noise himself”.

There were plenty of cries from the stands, dugout and pitch alike, though, when Rangers did not make the most of a four-on-one breakaway.

Cerny – having pinched possession – played through Hamza Igamane, who opted to pass to Nedim Bajrami on his right, inside of returning it to the onrushing Cerny or Mohamed Diomande on his left.

Cameron Carter-Vickers got back to block Bajrami’s cross, and the chance was gone.

Clement said it was “really disappointing that we made the wrong decision”. However, wrong moves were rare, which hasn’t been the case in recent derbies.

While ultimately Rangers lost their grip on the trophy, they headed down the tunnel nearly three hours after kick-off with their eyes open to future prizes.