Alfredo Morelos will not need the backing of his team-mates to bounce back from his Hampden ordeal, according to Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield.
Morelos missed a penalty and failed to find the net from another eight shots at goal as Rangers fell to a 1-0 Betfred Cup final defeat against Celtic.
The Colombia international has never scored against Celtic in 11 matches but Arfield is confident the 22-year-old will brush off his latest failure.
When asked if they needed to lift Morelos, Arfield said: “Not at all. He has dug us out of so many holes this season, he is a fantastic football player and a great character. It’s one of those things, everybody misses penalties and it is what it is.
“We are fully behind him but I don’t think he needs that. He is a character that knows what he’s all about, we know what he’s all about, the fans know what he’s all about. He will bounce back for sure.”
The former Falkirk and Burnley player is also confident that the Light Blues will quickly put their painful loss behind them – because they have to.
Steven Gerrard’s men will qualify for the Europa League knockout stages if they avoid defeat against Young Boys at Ibrox on Thursday.
They then take on third-placed Motherwell at Fir Park as they bid to maintain their Ladbrokes Premiership title push.
“It’s really hard to take, I think we deserved a lot more from the game,” the 31-year-old said. “With the magnitude of the game we are bitterly disappointed.
“In the duration I have been here that’s the most comfortable we have played (against Celtic). When you dissect it and analyse it I think there will be loads of positives, but at this minute it’s hard to take. We will reflect on it in a couple of days and see where we go.
“It should have been our day because we deserved to win the trophy but the fact is we didn’t, so we move on as quickly as possible.
“When we have got a manager like we have, we reflect, talk about it and move on quickly. At this football club we need to do that as quickly as possible because we have another huge game on Thursday, another huge game on Sunday.
“We are under no illusions as to how tough the schedule is, so this is just a setback. We reflect and move on.”
Arfield admitted there was an obvious lesson to learn from the match, though.
“When you come to Hampden and dominate a football game and have so many chances and nothing to show for it, it has to be a lesson,” he said.
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