Glasgow Rangers suffered semi-final heartbreak, with Umar Sadiq struggling on his first start for the Ibrox side.
While Umar Sadiq cannot shoulder all of the blame for Rangers’ League Cup semi-final defeat by any means, Gers fans would be forgiven for feeling that Sunday’s result would have been different had Alfredo Morelos or Kyle Lafferty been available at Hampden Park.
Gerrard rolled the dice by handing Sadiq the chance to start up front against Aberdeen. And unfortunately for the Rangers boss, the gamble did not pay off.
But Sadiq unquestionably had the golden chance to vindicate Gerrard’s faith in him as he was played through on goal and took an excellent touch round the goalkeeper.
However, despite having the goal at his mercy, Sadiq decided to throw his leg out towards the goalkeeper and throw himself to the ground rather than attempt to roll the ball home. He was, unsurprisingly, shown a yellow card.
After the full-time whistle, Gerrard consoled Sadiq who was clearly devastated by the defeat. But there now has to be some doubt as to whether the young forward will play for Rangers again.
Sadiq spent most of his opening months at Ibrox clearly out of favour and did little to prove at Hampden that Gerrard’s initial concerns were not justified. He certainly now appears to be back to square one.
Here is the image of Gerrard consoling Sadiq at full-time…
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