5 burning Rangers issues as Michael Beale puts long-running Celtic streak on the line with trophy history in sight

Michael Beale’s last appearance at Hampden Park against Celtic didn’t go too well. It all ended - quite literally for Ryan Jack - in tears as Christoper Jullien’s goal settled a tight League Cup final at a rain-sodden national stadium just over three years ago.

The Englishman would eventually get the last laugh against his bitter rivals as they embarked on a SEVEN game unbeaten run against their rivals before his departure for Aston Villa alongside Steven Gerrard. Now he’s back and his own man and a 2-2 draw in his first derby saw him earn plenty of praise for going toe to toe after Giovanni van Bronckhorst suffered a thumping defeat in the league meeting earlier in the season.

But now comes the big one. After Beale’s own personal record of eight without defeat against Celtic, will be on cloud nine come tea time on Sunday? He faces his biggest test as a manager in his own right for the massive Viaplay Cup final and Record Sport looks at five issues facing the Rangers boss going into the game.

The Union Bears made their point that they aren’t happy about the club’s recent record for silverware, using Beale’s own quote on Ibrox standards to enforce their message with a banner at Livingston. "Two major trophies in eleven years - uphold the standards that matter” they said, referencing Beale’s words when he said that allowing Partick Thistle to score unopposed the previous week was about club standards. It’s a poor return since returning to the top flight after their journey through the leagues from the bottom tier of Scottish football. Beale actually played his part in winning one of those two trophies - the one that mattered most of all, the much-coveted 55th league title in the club’s history, stopping Celtic from an