Rangers show stamina to book Hearts date – 5 things we learned from semi-final

Rangers beat Celtic 2-1 after extra time to reach the Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

The Light Blues came from behind following Greg Taylor’s 64th-minute opener. Scott Arfield levelled 12 minutes from time and Celtic could not respond as Fashion Sakala claimed the winning goal in extra time despite Carl Starfelt being credited with an own goal.

Here are five things we learned from the Hampden semi-final.

The Light Blues secured their second extra-time victory inside 64 hours as Calvin Bassey’s lung-bursting overlap set up the winner deep into the additional 30 minutes. Many observers tipped Celtic to make the most of their eight-day gap between games but, although Aaron Ramsey went off injured in the first half, Rangers showed little sign of suffering more fatigue than their opponents following their exertions in the Europa League quarter-finals against Braga.

The Hoops have missed out on the opportunity to record a fifth domestic clean sweep in six seasons having already claimed the Premier Sports Cup. Boss Ange Postecoglou had the opportunity to follow Martin O’Neill and Brendan Rodgers in winning a treble in his first season in charge.

Rangers will hope that Celtic’s first domestic defeat in 34 matches can cause a bit of doubt in the cinch Premiership leaders, who are six points and 19 goals better off than Rangers with five matches left. Celtic lacked their usual spark up front but Giorgos Giakoumakis is expected to return against Ross County next weekend while Kyogo Furuhashi and James Forrest are coming back to fitness. But Rangers will at least have added confidence going into their May 1 encounter at Parkhead.

Celtic and Rangers’ bosses are usually judged in relation to each other, but both Postecoglou and