Celtic's League Cup final conviction and Rangers' insipid intensity

Kyogo Furuhashi stole the show as he became just the second Celt in 66 years to score back-to-back braces in the final of the competition.

The Japanese striker's double rendered Alfredo Morelos's counter inconsequential on a day Ange Postecoglou made it three domestic trophies from four since taking the reins at Parkhead.

The manager made two changes to his starting XI from the Premiership win over Aberdeen a week prior, with Aaron Mooy and Furuhashi coming in for Matt O'Riley and Oh Hyeon-gyu respectively.

There was no place in the squad for James Forrest for the first time since the April 9 match against St Johnstone while Alexandro Bernabei missed out for the fifth time in six games. Oh, O'Riley, Liel Abada, Sead Haksabanovic and Tomoki Iwata all saw action from the bench.

Here, we take you through some of the Wyscout data from the Hampden showpiece...

xG and shots

The xG race chart suggests a relatively close match in terms of chances created - at least until the opening goal just before half-time.

That allowed Celtic to pull away in the creative stakes and they remained ahead throughout the second period.

Morelos's consolation goal accounted for almost 40 per cent of Rangers' total xG in the match while Kyogo's two strikes were 66 per cent of Celtic's total. 

The three goals in the match were statistically the 'best' three chances, with Kyogo's opener carrying the highest xG rating of 0.56.

Celtic created four mid-to-high-quality chances (Kyogo's two goals and O'Riley two attempts after coming on) while the Ibrox side manufactured three (Ryan Kent's effort off the post after half-time, Morelos's goal and a James Tavernier shot).

Morelos's goal was Rangers' only attempt on target meaning Joe Hart made no saves; Celtic managed five on target with Allan McGregor saving three.

Passing and positions

The average positioning of both teams can be seen below. 

Where Rangers are tightly clustered in central areas with only their full-backs providing any width, Celtic were generally in a 2-3-3-2 with the full-backs alongside Callum McGregor in midfield and Jota furthest forward in support of Kyogo.

This is reinforced in the respective pass networks, which also suggest particular fluency between centre-backs and left-back Greg Taylor with McGregor and Reo Hatate in midfield.

Overall, Celtic had 56 per cent possession which while still dominant is less so than the typical domestic game. A full breakdown of possession stats can be found below, while the long pass share percentage reflects Rangers' tendency to go long where Celtic largely stuck with their short passing game.

In terms of individual passing quality - right-back Alistair Johnston played a match-high three key passes. Jota was the only other player to play more than one.

Attacking stats

Below is a breakdown of each team's attacking composition. There was only a slender difference in the volume of attacks the sides mounted although a slight bias in favour of Rangers when it came to set-pieces.

Intriguingly, Rangers were more threatening down the left flank despite not using it as often while Celtic were far more threatening through the centre.

Celtic also launched more attacks per minute in the opening half with Rangers edging it in the second while chasing the game.

Additionally, Celtic played more crosses (19 to 15) than the opposition. That figure is in keeping with the Hoops' crossing level over their previous five games while Rangers' is about a fifth lower.

Duels and defending

There was little between the sides in terms of duel wins overall. Rangers had the slight edge in loose balls but Celtic held sway in offensive and defensive duels as well as aerial success and challenge intensity. They also dribbled more successfully.

The duels map below reflects where the action was taking place - of particular note is that there was far more activity in the Rangers defensive flanks than Celtic's.

Below is a round-up of various metrics which give an insight into the game's intensity. 

Recoveries per minutes and duel win rate are eeksy-peeksy however the PPDA figures give a clearer picture of who was generally playing with more intensity.

Celtic's first half stood in stark contrast to their opposition's with Rangers unable or unwilling to press the Hoops players effectively to the extent that, prior to half-time around the period of the opening goal, the Ibrox side were sitting off to an extreme level.

In more traditional defensive metrics, Celtic made more sliding tackles, interceptions and clearances.

Individually, Carl Starfelt won the most aerial duels in the game with seven, had joint-most clearances (five) alongside Carter-Vickers and had the highest overall duel win rate and most recoveries in the match too. He was also top dog of the starting contingents for overall action success (85 per cent).

Carter-Vickers, meanwhile, had the joint-highest pass completion percentage of any starter (96 per cent, level with Ryan Kent) as well as by far the most interceptions (11).