'Flashbacks to Seville': James Tavernier admits cup final defeat to Celtic is 'sore one'

Rangers captain James Tavernier admitted the Premier Sports Cup final defeat to Celtic was “sore” and said the penalty shoot-out loss brought back memories from the Europa League final.

Daizen Maeda scored the winning penalty after Ridvan Yilmaz had his effort saved in the Hampden shoot-out after the sides had drawn 3-3 in a breathless 90 minutes and then cancelled each other out in extra time.

Rangers had a half-time lead, then fought back from behind twice to force extra time but Celtic were clinical from the spot and went on to lift the first silverware of the season.

Tavernier felt there were positives to his team’s performance but said the lingering feeling had painful similarities to when Rangers lost the Europa League final to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

“It’s obviously a sore one,” he said. “It brings flashbacks to the Seville final, losing on penalty kicks when the game is so close.

“These games are decided on small margins and I’m proud of all the boys who step up to take a penalty. It’s one of those things where you either win a shoot-out or you don’t.

“It wasn’t our day but you can take positives out of this game.

“It’s still sore and raw because our aim was to win it.”

The captain felt his side should have had a penalty instead of a free kick when Vaclav Cerny was fouled by Liam Scales on the edge of the box but said there was no changing the decision now. Reflecting on the game as a whole, he preferred to look at the positives and something to build on.

“We put ourselves in a good position, going in at half-time at 1-0,” Tavernier added. “We emphasised limiting their chances, catching them on the break but then we’re disappointed with the manner of the two goals we concede.

“Especially with how well we’ve been defending as a team in the past few weeks.

“We kept pushing and got back into it and that’s obviously positive but the aim is to win and we didn’t.

“[The manager] said he was proud of the team. You never want to lose in a penalty shootout but there are positives to take. We’ve just got to push it off and keep working hard.”

And assessing his side against Celtic, he felt there was a big difference from the game in September when the Parkhead side cruised to a 3-0 home win.

“From the first Old Firm to today you can see that there’s massive improvement in our team,” he said. “How we’re working well as a team together. We’ve just got to continue working hard.

“The young lads are improving their own performances and we’re seeing big talented players that are showing their skills. We’ve got to keep pushing.”