Michael Beale has offered an honest assessment of Rangers Hampden display as he admitted: 'Celtic deserved to win the game'.
Kyogo Furuhashi was the hero at the national stadium for Ange Postecoglou's side once again as his double helped the Hoops on their way to a 2-1 win over the Light Blues and back to back wins in the competition. He fired twice in the showpiece event last season and he left his mark on the big occasion once more as Beale tasted defeat for the first time.
Alfredo Morelos gave his side hope with 25 minutes to play and sparked some life into their play but they couldn't break Celtic down - who should really have added to their tally with Allan McGregor denying them late on on the counter-attack on a number of occasions. Reacting to Rangers' defeat and his first as boss, Beale said: “I told them to suck it up. We didn’t come to the game until the second half. No qualms we lost the game on the day, it’s not nice, so they need to suck it up, take it on-board.
