Kris Boyd delivers a dose of Celtic’reality’ to Rangers fans following Brendan Rodgers’ League Cup success

The aftermath from Celtic’s League Cup final victory over Rangers continues, but this time with a twist.

The majority of the attention has been on whether Celtic defender Liam Scales should have received a penalty for his challenge on Rangers midfielder Vaclav Cerny.

Despite Celtic’s Scales admitting that he thought the foul was beyond the area, the overall view appears to be that Rangers should have been awarded a penalty kick.

Kris Boyd had a tantrum at the Celtic decision and demanded that Rangers question the SFA about the alleged VAR blunder.

And, while the SFA has taken an early stance on the Celtic incident, former Rangers striker Boyd has sent a dose of reality to his old club that he cannot deny following the Hampden defeat.

Kris Boyd says ‘only one thing matters’ after Celtic beat Rangers in League Cup final

Boyd, clearly calmer after his penalty breakdown, believes that despite the controversy surrounding the spot kick, there is nothing else that matters when he considers Celtic’s victory over Rangers.

Boyd told Go Ballistic, “They [the Rangers] have improved. But it could only grow better since it was so horrible previously.

“You know, the three league games, Ross County, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock, Rangers should be winning those games. They should be.

“You look at then the Nice performance, which I thought was very good. Tottenham Hotspur was very good, but drew the game.

“You then go to the cup final, and I thought Rangers, they were good in patches, but you have lost three goals. They were good in patches. As I said, you’ve scored three but you’ve lost three.

“Celtic weren’t at the best, but at the end of the day, you go into a cup final, there’s only one thing that matters, leaving that stadium with that cup.”

Kris Boyd slaps down what his ‘mates have been’ telling him about Rangers after Celtic defeat

Much of the discussion has focused on whether or not the gap between Celtic and Rangers is shrinking after the Ibrox team forced the final to penalties.

Ally McCoist believes Rangers are getting closer to Celtic, but fellow talkSPORT analyst Simon Jordan believes the Bhoys are still well ahead.

Boyd, on the other hand, is remarkably realistic in his delivery of Celtic reality to the Rangers’ fan base.

“And listen, I get it, ” Boyd continued, “And as I said, a lot of my mates have been on this morning and last night, ‘It was better than everything’.

“If that’s what you want, and that’s what you’re accepting now is what’s better then I think Rangers have got a lot more problems than what I thought.

“Because the era I was brought up and the team I played with, you wanted to win. You wanted to you wanted to be the team that’s the leader.

“I watched the Rangers players, obviously they wanted to win but because you put on a decent performance doesn’t mean it’s acceptable losing.

“I think that the last few weeks have been better. There’s no getting away from that. But the reality is, Brendan Rodgers leaves Hampden with another trophy. He leaves Hampden having beaten Philippe Clemont again and he’s the happier manager.”

Celtic fans will be pleased to learn that Boyd is now beginning to credit Celtic for their League Cup victory, now that the penalty red mist has lifted.

It appears that one of the best-ever finals between the two teams has been unfairly overshadowed, as Celtic demonstrated exceptional mental strength in coming back from behind, ignoring the disappointment of losing a lead twice, and scoring all five Hampden penalties.

With one phase of a potential domestic triple completed, Celtic fans may begin to dream of another domestic clean sweep this season.