BBC pundit Chris Sutton has slammed Rangers manager Michael Beale for not starting Nicolas Raskin in the Scottish League Cup final.

What's the latest on Beale, Raskin and Rangers?

The Ibrox outfit were unable to taste victory this weekend against bitter rivals Celtic as they lost 2-1 at Hampden Park despite a consolation effort from Alfredo Morelos.

Indeed, a goal in each half from Kyogo Furuhashi was enough to condemn Rangers to defeat and so question marks will understandably be asked of the tactical decisions made by Beale on the day.

For instance, when talking on the BBC phone-in radio show 606, Sutton suggested that it was "strange" to see Raskin left out of the starting team.

He said (46:20): “Well Raskin’s had a good start to his Rangers career. I actually thought that that was a strange decision or possibly a strange decision.

I understand, I think Michael Beale said before the game that in a couple of really big performances, I think the Hearts performance – that was the same team which played against Hearts at Tynecastle."

Was it a mistake not to star Raskin in the cup final?

As mentioned by Sutton, Beale did pick the exact same starting XI in this cup final as he did in the impressive 3-0 away win against Hearts at Tynecastle earlier on in the month.

And so it's easy to see why the Rangers manager perhaps felt as if he had found a winning formula on that occasion and didn't want to tamper with it against Celtic.

Even so, Raskin has started well in Scotland after arriving from Standard Liege this winter. Indeed, he may have played just four times for the club but he's already won plenty of praise from his new set of fans.

Despite that, he only managed to come on in the 65th minute of the game and was unable to turn the final in Rangers' favour. Perhaps Beale will regret not starting him when he assesses the defeat this week.