PART of the reason why we love football so much is because the better team doesn’t always win. We see that time again, week in, week out, from lowest level to highest level.

However, when analysing the Betfred Cup semi-final between Rangers and Celtic, a match that I covered exclusively live on BT Sport, the fact is on Sunday the better team won.

We can quote statistics and look at different aspects, and managers will do that. I’m a bit of a statto myself and like to look at different areas of the game and various aspects of play, but 1-0 was the final score and it took a classy goal from Moussa Dembele to decide it.

Read more: Rangers 1-1 St Johnstone: Hampden hangover as Mark Warburton's side falter at IbroxGlasgow Times:

Looking at the match from a neutral point of view you must examine the strengths and weaknesses of both teams. Celtic are the best team in Scotland by a long way. They have improved vastly in a short space of time under an excellent manager in Brendan Rodgers.

Ultimately it is Celtic then a gap to the rest. That may be hard for Rangers fans to accept but the honest ones that watched the game on Sunday will agree that their team have a lot of catching up to do. You also must say that it’s not obvious how they are going to do that when you look at both clubs in terms of resources and finance. That’s not going to be easy.

Read more: Rangers 1-1 St Johnstone: Hampden hangover as Mark Warburton's side falter at Ibrox

It was 1-0 but it should have been more. I thought Matt Gilks was superb in goal for Mark Warburton and his defence was much stronger than it has been, but on class of player and overall ability Rangers simply could not compete.

Those honest enough in the blue side of Glasgow will surely recognise their battle this season is for second place and that’s where Rangers should be focusing on. I don’t think first is reachable, not just for the Ibrox side but for anyone given how Celtic have kicked on domestically.

It’s not to say on a one-off game they can’t be beaten. Very few teams go the whole season unbeaten. Even Bayern Munich last season didn’t manage it.

But Rangers should look at how you build. It’s not a matter of throwing money – which isn’t there – at a quick fix, they must build up the club so the system is right from top to bottom and makes sure the players are coming through at Murray Park. You also need to have the right strategy in signings but I’m not sure they’ve got it right the last couple of windows.

I don’t want to single him out, but we can use Joe Garner as an example in the few games we’ve seen him. He wasn’t prolific last season for Preston but was the year before. He’s a £1.8m player, so does that mean Adam Rooney at Aberdeen is a £7m or 8m player? The most important area is the defence and that’s where things should have been addressed.

Read more: Rangers 1-1 St Johnstone: Hampden hangover as Mark Warburton's side falter at Ibrox

You can certainly criticise the fact that the players are coming from the same pool in England, and you don’t get bargains there. It just doesn’t happen. I recognise the expertise that Mark and Frank McParland have but you can’t restrict yourself to just one market.

I think some supporters thought the challenge was for the top-flight title, which isn’t entirely fair. We are judging Rangers on a different level from most promoted clubs. How realistic is it to expect them to challenge? It didn’t work for Hearts when they came straight back up, and they did exceptionally well.

It will take time but Rangers’ difficulty is Celtic are running away with this. And that’s not counting Champions League money from this season which will mean the Parkhead club will continue to build.

It’s sobering but the Rangers fight, at least for this campaign, is with Aberdeen and Hearts.