Scottish League Cup Final/Rangers ... 2 Celtic ... 1: The CIS Insurance Cup final turned out to be everything last weekend's Old Firm Premier League encounter was not in terms of football, drama, controversy and excitement. Plus, ultimately, the result.
Rangers beat Celtic in an epic clash laced with all the ingredients associated with these tribal confrontations. The pace was pulsating from Kenny Clark's first whistle to his last 95 engrossing minutes later.
The facts may appear simple. Claudio Caniggia put Rangers 1-0 ahead after 23 minutes when Peter Lovenkrands raced behind Johan Mjallby, crossed and the Argentinian picked his spot.
Lovenkrands once again left Mjallby in his wake to score the second. Henrik Larsson pulled a goal back with a near-post header from Alan Thompson's corner after 57 minutes, but it was not quite enough.
Those facts, however, do not come close to telling the whole story. They disguise, for example, a fine Rangers first-half performance when their usual Old Firm game plan of getting behind Celtic worked as well as it had gone badly last weekend when they lost at Celtic Park.
Nor do they show a remarkable comeback from Celtic in the second half when they threw everything at Rangers, had a goal from John Hartson wrongly ruled out for offside, saw Stefan Klos produce an astonishing save to deny Larsson and missed a penalty when Hartson fired a last-minute kick wide after a Lorenzo Amoruso trip on Bobo Balde.
On top of all that Celtic lost Chris Sutton, flattened by team-mate Balde, and Neil Lennon, who was booked twice in the final five minutes.
Five frantic minutes of injury-time completed the picture and at the end two sets of players and a packed crowd were drained.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said: "It may not be good news about Sutton for a start but overall I am as proud of the team in defeat as I have been so often in victory. They could have thrown it in at 2-0 down and made the games against Liverpool an excuse but they produced a monumental second-half effort."
O'Neill also made known his displeasure at two crucial refereeing decisions : "It was disappointing to know Hartson's effort was a yard onside and I also thought it was impossible for Lennon to get out of the way for his red card. That was exceptionally harsh."
The delighted Rangers manager Alex McLeish declared: "It was hard fought but we stood up and gave the right reaction to last week. We had no failures.
" I felt we thoroughly deserved our first-half lead but maybe then tried to protect it too much and I was looking at extra-time when they got their late penalty. Now we still have a chance of the treble."
The final controversy of the day came an hour after the final whistle when Lovenkrands suggested he and Michael Mols were both caught off the ball by Balde just before half-time.
Guardian Service
CELTIC: Douglas, Mjallby (Petrov 88), Balde, Valgaeren, Smith (Sylla 66), Lennon, Lambert, Sutton (Maloney 80), Thompson, Larsson, Hartson. Subs Not Used: McNamara, Marshall. Sent Off: Lennon (88). Booked: Thompson, Lennon. Goals: Larsson 57.
RANGERS: Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Moore, Bonnissel (Ross 64), Caniggia, Arteta (Konterman 78), Ferguson, de Boer (Arveladze 86), Mols, Lovenkrands. Subs Not Used: McCann, McGregor. Booked: Amoruso. Goals: Caniggia 23, Lovenkrands 35.
Referee: K Clark (Scotland).
