The term 'mutually exclusive' seems to be a weird notion in Scottish football.

Mutually exclusive events are things that cannot happen at the same time. In the proverbial goldfish bowl, things are often presented as mutually exclusive when they aren't. Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Rangers contained such a case.

But let's outline a few things sensibly first. Celtic's loss to Rangers spoiled a potential treble, snapped a 17-game national stadium win streak and ended a 33-match domestic unbeaten run. How much the events of Sunday afternoon at Hampden impact anything beyond that is yet to be determined. We'll see in Dingwall come 2.30pm on Sunday if it has.

Next, a brief rundown of how the game unfolded...

Much can be learned by the start of a match and in this one Rangers tried to push high in the opening 10 minutes or so but, in truth, it was marginally more Celtic in those stages in what can best be characterised as a tit-for-tat exchange.

The Light Blues attempted to press high from goal kicks too. Likewise, the Hoops made no bones about their intent to force Rangers to go long if possible, making Jon McLaughlin put it straight out of play on a couple of occasions under pressure from Daizen Maeda and co.

While the Ibrox side edged proceedings in terms of pressure and shots, these differences were razor thin and neither side had really manufactured proper clear-cut chances in the opening 45.

That continued into the second half even though Matt O'Riley's introduction did spark Celtic somewhat. Indeed, although Greg Taylor soon gave Postecoglou's side the lead and Cameron Carter-Vickers then smacked the bar when the net would've made it 2-0, it was the Light Blues who had looked slightly more threatening with Celtic's attack seemingly struggling to put together a coherent pressing game.

Other aspects at play - such as John Lundstram dropping in to pick up possession as an auxiliary centre-back or the surplus of crosses being thrown in - were nothing the Hoops hadn't encountered before. Indeed, the latter pattern is something they usually actively encourage.

Both Rangers goals ultimately came from crosses but it was Celtic's own passivity that was so unlike them. That, you feel, is a moment for the Hoops to look inward and analyse rather than simply doffing caps to an opponent that was feisty and physical, yet exceedingly familiar in their play.

READ MORE: Detailed Celtic player ratings as Greg Taylor goal and Callum McGregor efforts not enough to keep treble tilt on track

That attitude was something Callum McGregor referenced afterwards, when he said he felt both teams “played with a fear of losing the game”.

He added: “We have been really aggressive and got after teams and played our football. You probably put (not doing) that down to the experience of the game and the experience of the group - we have to accept that we are not the finished article. We know that. We are always trying to push to be better. This is our first season and things like that will make us stronger moving forward.”

The second half of extra time, in particular, will arguably have disappointed Postecoglou more than the rest of the game. That was when not only Celtic looked like the team who had played 120 minutes a few days previous but when they seemed to lose that bit of resilience in their play he always speaks about.

"I didn't feel it was a game where we were out of control," he said. "Maybe in extra time, after they scored, we lost our way a little bit and we could have been a little bit more disciplined just to stick to our principles - but I guess the players were feeling disappointed at falling behind."

Of course, the other aspect yet to be mentioned is the performance of referee Bobby Madden. And that's where we return to the mutually-exclusive stuff.

It's never ideal to discuss a referee, especially in Scotland. You're often damned if you do and damned if you don't. It's either an excuse for why Team X didn't win or it's simply a way to detract from the achievement of Team Y.

John Lundstram, Calvin Bassey, Joe Aribo… on this occasion there seems little use in dissecting each decision and its potential knock-on effects ad nauseam.

It should suffice to point out the following two things though. Madden's performance was demonstrably dire and impacted the match; Madden's performance is not an excuse for a passive Celtic attacking display. Those statements are not, even in the world of Scottish football, mutually exclusive.

They tell journalists never to make themselves the story; the same lesson could be taught to football officials.

Postecoglou, of course, did not mention Madden's performance in the immediate aftermath of the loss. He has spent a fair amount of time this season explaining that it's not in his make-up to do that after a defeat.

Instead, the manager's attention immediately switched to Priority A: the Premiership title.

"Irrespective of what happened today," Postecoglou said. "We have five games to concentrate on winning the league. We need to make sure that we use this disappointment to fuel our endeavours in this next series of games."

Crashing out the cup and then wobbling in the league? Celtic's onus must now be on ensuring those two things very much are mutually exclusive.