Barry Ferguson has seen enough Rangers capitulations against Old Firm rivals Celtic to fear the worst when Daizen Maeda put Brendan Rodgers’ side ahead in the Scottish League Cup final.
Rangers had competed tirelessly until that point, even taking a half-time lead through Nedim Bajrami.
But with that Europa League draw with Tottenham Hotspur only three days earlier sapping the energy from the legs of Philippe Clement’s players, two goals in the blinking of an eye from Celtic had legendary Ibrox skipper Barry Ferguson wondering how lopsided the scoreline may look at full-time.
Ferguson was both a little surprised and extremely ‘encouraged’, then, to see Rangers fight back, keep trading blows, and pull themselves off the canvas.
Mohamded Diomande cancelled out Maeda’s strike. And, even when Nicolas Kuhn appeared to have secured the title for Celtic in the 87th minute, those in blue came roaring back again as substitute Danilo crashed in a header.
Now, the ribbons on the League Cup trophy may have changed from blue to green following a tense penalty shoot-out – Ridvan Yilmaz saw his penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel – but Ferguson feels that the nature of Rangers’ performance bodes extremely well for the remainder of the current campaign.
Barry Ferguson hails Rangers’ valiant Scottish League Cup final display
“I was really encouraged by the response. Rangers dug deep and continued to fight,” Ferguson tells the Daily Record. “You can use words like grit, determination and resilience.
“In my book, we call it balls. You need a big pair of them if you’re going to wear that jersey in an Old Firm derby, and that’s exactly what I saw from these players on Sunday.
“They didn’t fold. They picked themselves back up off the floor, rolled up their sleeves and battled their way back into the match. Yes, ultimately, it will go down as another defeat against Celtic and there have been too many of them for my liking.
“But, let’s be honest, while some of these recent beatings have been no contests, this was the absolute opposite.
“That shows me Philippe Clement has got something to work with in terms of where this team are going and there’s no doubt there have been some big improvements made over the last month or so.”
Nico Raskin is playing his best football in Rangers colours.
The £1.7 million signing from Standard Liege appeared to be slipping down the pecking order following a lengthy spell out of the sidelines with injury. No one epitomises the new-found spirit of Clement’s side better than the Belgian battle-axe, then, with even Celtic hero Neil Lennon signing Nico Raskin’s praises at Hampden Park.
Ferguson also points out that Rangers’ best run of performances of 2024/25 coincided with Ianis Hagi’s shock return to the starting XI, as well as Clement’s decision to install Hamza Igamane as his first-choice number nine.
Ferguson says Nico Raskin is getting ‘better and better’ at Ibrox
“Guys like Nico Raskin, Ianis Hagi and Hamza Igamane have made a huge difference,” Ferguson adds.
“Hagi looks like a new signing and has added real movement and variation to the way the team play in the final third. And Raskin – who was immense at the National Stadium – gets better and better with every game.
“There are plenty of positives for Rangers to take into the festive period, so they have to recover quickly from the disappointment of losing the Cup Final on penalties.
“All that matters is what comes next. And that has to be delivering nine points from their next three games before going head-to-head with Celtic again on January 2.”
Igamane has relegated the previously untouchable Cyriel Dessers to the bench during a run of five goals in five games.
Igamane chose Rangers over a move to Qatar over the summer, and reportedly has Premier League clubs taking a keen interest already.
