"There is no losing in football. There is only winning and learning." It is a wonderful quote - isn't it?

It's even more poignant and fitting when you consider that the words belong to Italian football legend Gianluca Vialli who tragically lost his battle against cancer last week aged just 58. Vialli's sentiment struck a chord with yours truly. A massive chord.

In fact, those words could well have been uttered by Celtic's own managerial custodian Ange Postecoglou and lifted directly out of the Aussie's football coaching manual. If ever a quote was ripe to be labelled an 'Angeism' then it's surely this one. It's 100 per cent Vialli's, that's for sure and I love it. However, I am going to apply it to the current Celtic team.

It is certainly a philosophy that the former Socceroos coach has adhered to since he walked through the famous glass doors at Parkhead.

The 57-year-old arrived in Glasgow a relative unknown. The Hoops faithful had to learn all about him from the other side of the pond. And learn they did.

It is apt that this weekend that the Bhoys will go into battle against Kilmarnock in the League Cup semi-final for the second consecutive season for the right to meet Aberdeen or Rangers in the first showpiece of the season next month.

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Celtic are the current holders after defeating Hibernian 2-1 in the final of the competition last season when two sublime goals from Kyogo Furuhashi at the national stadium were enough to seal the deal.

Winning the competition was Postecoglou’s first taste of silverware as Hoops boss and you never forget your first time. However, the League Cup trophy win was important in more ways than one for the Parkhead side. It showed that the Australian who had coveted being a manager at a big club in Europe could also be successful on these shores. It demonstrated his managerial methods could work. The 57-year-old showed Celtic that it was possible after a year in the doldrums and conceding the title to rivals Rangers that they could learn to become winners all over again.

The irony in all of this is that it came after Postecoglou had lost three of his first seven matches as Celtic boss and many predicted that he wouldn't last until Christmas. How wrong they were. The ex-Yokohama F Marinos manager has shown the Hoops how to win again with flair, panache and a style that could best be described as 'The Celtic Way'. It is not up for debate.

Since losing to Livingston at Almondvale in September 2021, domestically Celtic have suffered defeat just twice - to St Mirren in the Premiership in September 2022 and to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2022 - and it is an astonishing statistic. They have yet to lose a domestic match at Celtic Park since Postecoglou took charge of the club. The Hoops have also learned a lot in that time, such as the different ways to win a football match.

Celtic Way:

Sure there's the rip-roaring, free-scoring, never-boring Celtic swashbuckling way that has put many a Premiership opponent to the sword. Just ask Rangers, Dundee United, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock, Hibs, Dundee, St Mirren and Motherwell for their thoughts on that. However, there is also the patient team who now knows how to unlock tight defences when teams park the bus and have no intention of playing the Hoops at football. Again just ask the likes of Ross County, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Saturday's League Cup semi-final opponents Kilmarnock their thoughts on that particular subject.

Yes, this Celtic squad under Postecoglou have learned all right. They have learned how to win and to cope with every demand that is placed upon them certainly at home. Europe remains a work in progress and the steepest of the learning curves for the team.

This is why last season's League Cup final triumph can not be underestimated in Postecoglou's Celtic journey. It wasn't just another trophy win for the Bhoys. It was the reawakening of the club. It took the Australian's arrival to shake a team out of its slumber, lethargy and malaise. Celtic had choked on their own hubris. Victims of their own success, call it what you will.

It is why even now, Postecoglou references the League Cup win over Hibs as holding a special place in his heart. His managerial career spun on its very axis that day. He knew it. The Celtic fans knew it. The watching football world knew it. Sunday December 19 2021, at Hampden Park, was no place for a loser. The former Socceroos coach knew it was all about winning and learning.

This week the 57-year-old spoke to the club's website about last season's cup triumph, saying: "It is all special. Where we were on our journey to winning silverware so early, it helped fast-track many of the things I wanted to implement. Winning a trophy gathers belief in everything you are doing and accelerates everyone’s learning. It was a very important part of our season.”

"Accelerates everyone's learning..."

Three words that illustrate perfectly how Postecoglou's football message had gotten through. It has penetrated the Celtic board, the players, the supporters and even sections of the media. This guy really is a winner and if you didn't believe it before, you have to believe it now. Wrestling back the Scottish Premiership from Rangers at the first time of asking during a rebuild bordered on showboating.

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Postecoglou has visited Hampden three times in his short managerial tenure with Celtic - twice he's been a winner - the other time well, I guess it's fair to say he's learned from it.

As the Aussie said: "I have enjoyed the wins, I didn’t enjoy the loss. That is always the main thing, I guess. Hampden is a unique venue in that whenever you play there you know that there is something on the line. You aren’t playing there in just another game.

"It is either a semi-final or a final. I think the fact both clubs can bring fans, I just think it makes a great occasion and certainly, for us, we look forward to it. Whilst we weren’t successful in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup I still enjoyed all three games for the occasion they were. For us to make it memorable we have to perform and win.”

Postecoglou performed his own version of 'Veni, Vidi, Vici' in his wonderful maiden campaign with the Hoops. Yet Celtic are, according to him, "still evolving and getting stronger".

To go back to Vialli, he strikes me as being someone who would get on well with the Hoops boss. Postecoglou's Celtic are living proof that Vialli was right all along. "There is no losing in football. There is only winning and learning."

What a beautiful phrase. What a philosophy that is to adopt and define your sporting life. What a tragic loss to football and life. As they say in Italian: "Che Dio ti benedica sempre Gianluca."