Rangers boss Michael Beale has admitted that he told his players the defeat Celtic on Sunday was a ‘harsh’ game of football.
Beale led his team out at Hampden Park on Sunday afternoon with the Viaplay Cup up for grabs.
Sadly, it didn’t quite work out as Rangers fans hoped and Celtic took a 2-0 lead through a pair of Kyogo Furuhashi goals.
Alfredo Morelos did pull one back for Rangers but Beale’s men just couldn’t find the all-important leveller.
The attention will now be on Beale, who put his faith in the trusted old guard like John Lundstram and Glen Kamara rather than Nicolas Raskin.
That decision didn’t really pay off as Celtic’s movement in midfield caused all sorts of problems.
That’s something for Beale to hopefully learn from but the Rangers boss was happy with the application on show.
Michael Beale shares message to Rangers team
Speaking to BBC Sport, Beale admitted that he loved the attitude on display from his Rangers players after going 2-0 down.
Beale then added that he gave a key seven-word message to his players after the full-time whistle – ‘that was a harsh game of football’.
“Our mentality after conceding the second goal was magnificent,” said Beale. “We huffed and puffed, but we couldn’t find our moment on the day. I said to the players, that was a harsh game of football,” he added.
Beale clearly feels that this could have been Rangers’ win on another day.
Beale is right to praise the effort from Rangers, who did give it a good go at 2-0 down.
Yet Rangers had made life hard for themselves by giving away two close-range goals to Kyogo.
That’s a big mountain to climb, especially against a strong Celtic sider under Ange Postecoglou.
Rangers can’t expect to win games after going 2-0 down and whilst the effort was good, Celtic were deserved winners on the day and Beale will need to see more quality moving forward.
