Sir Kenny Dalglish: Will a dark horse put Morelos and Kyogo in shade?

It could well be that one piece of individual brilliance decides the destination of the League Cup this afternoon.

Hopefully, it’s not down to bad refereeing or a VAR decision.

Many Rangers supporters will look to Alfredo Morelos to be their main man. In the other half of Hampden, Kyogo Furuhashi will be seen as a potential talisman.

Alfredo is out of contract in the summer, and we are still none the wiser if he is going to stay on for next season.

Indeed, we don’t even know if a concrete offer from the club has been placed in front of him since Michael Beale took over.

It’s not ideal to have the Colombian striker in this situation.

If he is feeling he will move on to pastures new at the end of the season, he will not want to be picking up any serious injuries.

That kind of thing can play on your mind.

However, the flip side of that may be that he might not have the type of offers on the table from elsewhere that have really tickled his fancy.

If that’s the case, then this is the perfect platform for him to get other clubs to sit up and take notice. To score a winner against a team of Celtic’s quality in a cup final will not do you any harm whatsoever.

There is no doubt Alfredo is a quality striker. Rangers are better with him in the team than out of it.

He’s scored against Celtic previously, but he’s also missed a few golden chances in the Old Firm fixture, including missing a penalty the last time the clubs met at this stage of the competition.

The same applies to Kyogo. He equalised late on in the Premiership meeting at Ibrox last month last month, and showed wonderful composure in doing so.

He is a class act. His movement is as good as any player in the Scottish game, and I love the way he picks his moments to run in behind.

The Japanese striker has the ability and intelligence to hurt any defence, so I wonder how the Rangers backline will cope with him today.

His pace over short bursts is exceptional, and the Light Blue shirts may struggle to keep up with him.

Perhaps Michael will have a plan for Kyogo? Maybe he will look at going to three central defenders, rather than the normal two?

If the Ibrox manager does come up with something different, then Ange Postecoglou usually has the capacity to cope, and tweak things to combat anything unexpected.

But there could be a surprise package somewhere. Someone may well emerge a hero, someone we are least likely to expect.

Both teams are in good form. They are unbeaten in 2023, and the only points they’ve dropped in the Premiership was in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox.

Right now, it’s so hard to choose a winner. It is so hard to predict, you’d be as well to flip a coin!

I only hope the surface at our National Stadium is better than it was for the semi-final weekend. We have two really good footballing sides on show, and we want the players to enjoy the grass.

The supporters also deserve to sample the best possible experience at Hampden Park. I hope they are not short-changed by poor playing conditions.

I have a feeling they will have some fine entertainment to look forward to, and exciting football.

Don’t be surprised if this game goes all the way to penalties.

At that point, it really does come down to a bit of luck, and some really good goalkeeping from Allan McGregor and Joe Hart can also help.

But Celtic are the holders, and I think they may well sneak it.

However, Rangers were underdogs the last time the sides met at Hampden, and they put on a really strong performance to upset the odds.

Overall, however, I can’t see Callum McGregor not being the man holding the trophy aloft this evening, the first silverware towards the coveted Treble.

For Rangers, that would be a serious blow, but one they could still recover from.