Chris Sutton couldn’t resist taking a swipe at Rangers after his former club Celtic clinched the Scottish League Cup in dramatic fashion yesterday.
Brendan Rodgers’ side triumphed at Hampden Park after a nail-biting penalty shootout, securing their 119th major trophy. Daizen Maeda sealed the victory, calmly converting the decisive spot-kick, much to the delight of the Celtic faithful.
The match was a rollercoaster affair. Regulation time ended 3-3 after a pulsating second half saw both teams trading blows.
Extra time failed to produce a winner, leaving the fate of the cup to be decided by penalties in front of the Rangers supporters.
Ridvan Yilmaz proved to be the unfortunate villain for Rangers, as his penalty was superbly saved by Kasper Schmeichel. Diving low to his left, the Danish goalkeeper denied the left-back, securing glory for Celtic.
Sutton, never one to miss an opportunity for some banter, revelled in the result. Taking to social media, he praised Celtic’s resilience while slyly mocking Rangers.
“Well played Celtic and Brendan Rodgers, absolutely relentless. Another moral victory maybe for Rangers though,” he quipped on X.
The comment was a clear dig at Rangers boss Philippe Clement, whose “moral victory” remarks earlier this year remain a point of contention.
Clement had made the statement following a thrilling 3-3 draw at Ibrox in April, where Rabbi Matondo’s late equaliser cancelled out Adam Idah’s seemingly decisive strike for Celtic.
Reflecting on that match, Clement had said:
“I’m happy about the reaction, they showed personality and at the end, we are the moral winners of this fight, of this game… with a lot of passion, everything these supporters want, everything this club wants.
“Everything this club is about, they showed in the second half. They need to show it in the next couple of weeks, too, in every challenge we have.
“There’s a big evolution in that. They showed something special today. I always believed they had the quality to do it, and they showed it in the second half.”
For Celtic, yesterday’s triumph further cements their dominance in Scottish football, while Rangers are left to ponder what might have been.
