When you've got a penalty kick and a striker who has scored 25 goals by December then you should be confident it is hitting the net.

For many Rangers fans, though, there would have been a huge doubt when James Tavernier handed Alfredo Morelos the ball at Hampden on Sunday.

The Colombian has previously only hit one penalty for Rangers - in the first qualifying round of the Europa League against St Joseph's - and is widely viewed as a striker who wouldn't be comfortable hitting spot kicks.

It was his fifth spot kick of his career and he's missed two of them. The other he missed came for HJK Helsinki and came in a derby where he failed to score despite goakeeper Carljohan Eriksson being sent off and defender Jani Backman being forced to go in goal.

His style of play means Morelos doesn't always strike the ball cleanly but even if he had been a convincing penalty taker in the past you would have been worried before he had his effort saved by Fraser Forster.

Even if he was a regular taker there's an argument he shouldn't have hit it against Celtic. It's not down to his mentality or being a poor player, but on the day Forster simply had the upper hand in their battle.

It was where the final was won and lost as Forster made save after save from the Colombian.

Add in the fact Forster was at least a yard off his line and maybe all the blame doesn't fall at the feet of Morelos but it's still a question that needs asked.

The 23-year-old then lost his head after the miss and struggled to get into the game, missing perhaps his best chance late on when 99 times out of 100 he hits it on the turn and smashes the net.

But if Morelos wasn't to hit the penalty then who was Steven Gerrard to turn to? His options are limited with Tavernier the regular penalty taker over the season.

The Ibrox skipper has hit five penalties this season and missed three of them. The two he did score came in the same game against Aberdeen.

For all three that he has missed the target with two hitting the post (against Progres and Motherwell) and one going wide (Feyenoord).

That takes Rangers penalty record this season to four misses from seven spot kicks. When you compare it to last season when Tavernier couldn't stop scoring - 14 in total - then it's a worrying trend for Gerrard.

So where does he go next? Morelos could get another opportunity but he just doesn't look like a natural penalty taker.

Jermain Defoe is the obvious answer should he be on the pitch but given his game time has been limited because of the form of Morelos it leaves it open to other candidates.

He was still on the bench so couldn't take Sunday's while the other option is Steven Davis. His experience and calmness under pressure is a key attribute but he hasn't been a regular penalty taker in his career.

Admittedly, NASA are still looking for the last one he hit against the Netherlands but in general he's a calm head.

On the pitch there seemed two potentially obvious candidates to be next in line. The first of those is dead ball expert Borna Barisic.

The Croatian left back has only taken six penalties in his career and missed two of them. All came while playing for Osijek and five of those came in the same season.

Of that six he scored the first four and hasn't hit one since missing two in a row in 2017.

Scott Arfield is another candidate given his experience and his reaction to Morelos' miss suggests he might have fancied it himself.

The rash tackle on Ryan Christie earned him a booking but it could have been more given his recklessness.

He's not a known penalty taker and hasn't been since his Falkirk days but given the level he played at that's not necessarily a surprise.

He scored six - all for Falkirk - including one against Celtic in November 2009.

The Canada skipper's steely determination makes him a candidate for the role but in reality Gerrard is left without any true option if Defoe is on the bench.

The likes of Joe Aribo, Ryan Jack, Ryan Kent and Glen Kamara have never hit penalties in their career and neither have centre backs Connor Goldson or Filip Helander.

It's something Gerrard will need to figure out in future given the amount of penalties Rangers generally earn because of the focus of their play.

It may revert back to Tavernier given his previous record and the lack of other options but the boss has some big decisions to make on who goes next.

It's a choice between a player who has missed three out of five this season - but has been brilliant in the past - or giving someone who isn't an experienced penalty taker a chance - and we've already witnessed how big a risk that is.