Clement insists Rangers were denied penalty as he laments 'cruel' Premier Sports Cup final loss to Celtic

Rangers manager Philippe Clement believes Rangers were denied a penalty before their shoot-out defeat to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final.

Celtic lifted the trophy after winning the penalty shoot-out 5-4, with the teams having drawn 3-3 in 120 minutes of play at Hampden.

Rangers had taken the lead through Nedim Bajrami before Greg Taylor hit a deflected equaliser. Daizen Maeda put Celtic in front but Mohamed Diomane levelled with 15 minutes to go. A breathtaking end to the regulation time saw Nicolas Kuhn score with three minutes to go and Danilo then headed in a last-gasp leveller to force extra time.

The extra time proved to be goalless but Clement is adamant his side should have had an opportunity from the spot.

Early in the first period of added time, Liam Scales grabbed a handful of Vaclav Cerny’s shirt and pulled him to the ground, receiving a yellow card for the foul. A free-kick was awarded right on the edge of the box.

Clement says VAR should have told referee John Beaton to award a penalty.

“I don’t know if you saw the images back but my phone is overloaded with the penalty situation with Cerny,” the manager said.

“I have had hundreds of messages about that. It’s also a decisive moment in the game.

“Of course [Beaton] cannot see that in the moment but he didn’t get the communication from the VAR to come to watch the screen.

“It was for me a really weird situation, that there’s no look in this kind of game.”

VAR can intervene and make the call on objective decisions such as offside or whether a player is inside or outside the box.

Clement added: “I didn’t see it at the time because I still have quite good eyesight but I cannot see if the foot is inside or outside or on the line at that distance.

“But my phone is full of messages from everybody.

“I’m focused on my team. These are things I can’t control.

“I know all of [the media] like to dive deep into things so maybe it’s an important moment to dig into that. About why there’s no communication in the moment about a big decision like that because it’s clear for everybody that its a game-deciding decision.”

The Belgian was proud of his side’s efforts and attitude in the game and praised how they had performed in their second game in four days.

“I would not like to be here speaking about a penalty because I want to speak about the team and what they did today,” Clement said. “How brave they were after a big European night on Thursday and giving a lot against Tottenham.

“Two days less recovery and showing the physical levels that they did today.

“Also the team spirit and the mentality and good football. I think it was a really good game for Scottish football, this final.

“Everybody can be happy about that but you want to win the trophy.

“But we had to do a lot of things extra to get it to our side if you don’t get a penalty like that.”

He believed the defeat, which came after Ridvan Yilmaz was the only player to fail to score his penalty, was “cruel”.

“Football can be amazingly great and amazingly fun,” he said. “It can also be very cruel.

“This was a really cruel one.

“I think my team deserved more today, creating more chances than the opponent. Coming back in a good way and then losing on penalties at the end, it stays a casino game in that moment.”