The penultimate stage of any cup competition is usually when the excitement and dreaming starts.

But the semi-finals of the League Cup have sparked controversy even before anyone can start thinking about the trophy.

A fixtures conflict gave the SPFL a problem to solve and though the decision to play both games back-to-back at Hampden is innovative, it's raised concerns from some of the parties involved.

We've pulled together all of the key points from an issue that looks set to rumble on, possibly until the four sides arrive at Hampden on October 28.

This week's quarter-finals saw Aberdeen, Celtic, Rangers and Hearts progress to the last four of the League Cup.

The semi-finals were scheduled for Saturday, October 27 and Sunday, October 28 with Aberdeen drawn against Rangers and Celtic to play Hearts.

However, Celtic and Rangers both play in the Europa League on the Thursday before the semi-final weekend.

If either side was asked to play on Saturday at the national stadium they would have less than 48 hours' recovery time.

After inviting representatives from the four clubs for talks on Thursday, the SPFL (who organise the tournament) announced that both games would be played on the Sunday at Hampden.

Aberdeen v Rangers has been scheduled to kick off at noon, with Hearts v Celtic set to start at 7.45pm.

The SPFL said that they had a contractual obligation to play both games at Hampden and that they had been assured by stadium management and Police Scotland that the plan was feasible.

The decision prompted a mixed reaction from fans and commentators on social media with some applauding the creation of a 'Super Sunday' with two high-profile matches and a focus for attention and marketing.

Others highlighted a range of concerns from the logistics of having four sets of fans in the city on the same day, the safety aspects and effects on the playing surface for the second game, through to the significant impact on travelling fans.

Aberdeen issued a statement saying they were "dismayed" at being given an early kick-off time in Glasgow, having repeatedly raised the difficulties for their supporters in making it to the national stadium for noon.

The first train from Aberdeen to Glasgow on a Sunday arrives at Queen Street station 15 minutes after kick-off.

Hearts owner Ann Budge also made a statement saying that she had expected the matches to be scheduled for different days or separate venues.

She said that she expressed concerns about the playing surface among other points and said that the club felt that "the planned schedule is not in the best interest of Scottish football, the club and certainly not the supporters".

At his pre-match media conference on Friday, Hearts manager and director of football Craig Levein went further saying the decision is "the craziest thing I've ever experienced in football", "just madness", "doesn't compute", "defies any sort of logic" and is "farcical".

Levein highlighted the travel concerns that would face Hearts fans, who would have to return to the capital late on a Sunday night, and said the scheduling would put supporters off attending the match.

Prior to the announcement, it was understood that the possibility of moving one of the matches to Murrayfield on the Sunday was under consideration.

Playing one game at the home of Scottish rugby in Edinburgh with the other remaining at Hampden would have eased logistical pressure and Levein was in favour of the proposal.

However, the contractual obligation to Hampden would have been a hurdle to overcome and the switch would need to have been approved by broadcast rights-holder BT Sport.

Another suggestion was to play one of the fixtures at a later date, though a set of midweek league fixtures immediately following the cup games restricted the chances of moving either game.

However, as both Aberdeen and Hearts pointed out, Celtic are scheduled to play Hearts in the Premiership on Saturday, November 3.

Playing the cup match at Hampden on that date and leaving both clubs to reschedule the fixture later would have been an option.

The Pittodrie club stressed their unhappiness about the early kick-off time.

A strongly-worded statement ended with the club slamming the decision as "appalling".

Derek McInnes reiterated the feelings of the club at his Friday media conference, saying: "I don't think we are going to get a perfect scenario.

"The fact is our supporters are going to have to travel to Glasgow anyway, which is always the case when we get to semi-finals and finals, and we are well used to that.

"But I just find it really unfair and I reiterate the statement the club put out.

"For them to try and get there for an early kick-off just makes it all the more problematic. I'm sure that would have been taken into account in the decision-making process but it doesn't seem to have been important enough."

Brendan Rodgers was more measured in his comments than Levein or McInnes, saying that the scheduling was "a major challenge".

He said: "I only assume that it had been anticipated, what may happen, and I'm only assuming it is the best solution that they thought before it would have happened.

"From the outside, it looks operationally and logistically a major challenge, but the organisers and police must feel that it will be under control. So we have to accept that it's been organised in what they feel is the best way."

However, as a manager taking part in the second match of the day, he highlighted concerns about the condition of the pitch.

"It could go into extra-time, it could go into penalties. It really could operationally be a real push. But listen, we see the issues around it, both on the pitch and off the pitch. We can only control how we prepare for the game now."

Hearts owner Ann Budge addressed fans in a statement on the club website on Thursday and it was clear she was not impressed by the SPFL's decision.

She said: "Whatever options I may have expected, I was astonished... and I was not alone in that regard... to be informed that both games would be played on the same day at Hampden.

"I had gone into the meeting, confident that the games would be scheduled for different venues... or if not, for different days.

" I have made my feelings clear, on behalf of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, both in person and in writing, that we do have serious concerns that the planned schedule is not in the best interest of Scottish football, the club and certainly not the supporters.

"Following further conversations this evening, I do not believe the plan can/will be changed."

Craig Levein's strong comments on Friday underlined the unhappiness of everyone at Tynecastle.

"It's the craziest thing I've ever experienced in football," he said.

"How you can come to this decision based around what should be one of the... there are four semi-finals in the season in the two big cup competitions so it's a huge thing for Scottish football. So how they've come to this decision is beyond belief.

"It's just madness, honestly. There's so many things that could go wrong.

"If they are saying this is the best solution then they've not done their jobs properly.

"In fact, it could possibly be the worst decision."

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has said he would be interested to see how the organisers would handle the fixture conflict when he spoke on Wednesday night but he didn't seem unduly concerned by the decision, only stating that he was happy to be playing in the first of the two matches.

He said: "It's a unique situation, unique circumstances because ourselves and Celtic are still going in Europe

"In terms of having an opinion or adding to what has been said, I've nothing to say.

"We're looking forward to our game, we're first on the pitch which is a bonus and are in for a tough test against a good team."

Immediately after the decision was announced, SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster told STV the solution wasn't ideal but that it addressed the league's needs.

"All of us would prefer to have the games over two days but in this case it wasn't possible," he said.

"BT have been very flexible and Hampden Park and Police Scotland have made it happen.

"We understand it is not ideal to have two games on a Sunday, we'd all prefer to have games on a Saturday when that can be done.

"With two teams in the Europa League group stages, that simply can't be done on this occasion and we'd ask for their forbearance."

SPFL secretary Ian Blair told the Daily Record on Thursday that work had been done in advance to prepare for the eventuality.

He said: "We knew going into last night's Betfred Cup draw there was a chance that if Rangers and Celtic reached the Betfred Cup semi-finals the draw could keep them apart, and because they both have a UEFA Europa League match on Thursday, October 25 we had to find a solution which gave them the necessary two-day gap between competitive matches.

"We've been working hard with Police Scotland and Hampden Park on contingency planning for exactly this scenario and, together, we examined every possible permutation.

"The crowded fixture calendar means that this is the best and most practical solution as any alternative had the knock-on effect of causing major fixture congestion, not only for Celtic and Rangers, but for several other SPFL clubs.

"We met with representatives of all four clubs earlier today and explained that this was the only feasible outcome.

"The fact that both Celtic and Rangers are in Europe, and will hopefully be playing in the Europa League after the New Year, is obviously good news for Scottish football, but it does mean that our capacity for rescheduling games is significantly curtailed.

"We can confirm that Police Scotland have advised the Aberdeen v Rangers game should be played first."

After the outcry about public transport for travelling fans, ScotRail directed criticism at the SPFL for not getting in touch with them before the decision.

They said that the scheduling posed them logistical problems but that they would try to adapt their services to help cover demand.