Rangers v Celtic: Scottish Premiership – live | Scottish Premiership

19 min: Raskin wins another duel against McGregor in midfield. The Celtic man is not happy with himself of his team, effing and jeffing to himself as he trots back into position.

17 min: Celtic go route-one and Kyogo so nearly gets clean through on goal but the forward just can’t reach the long diagonal pass.

15 min: Celtic simply haven’t got to grips with the game. They are yet to string any meaningful passes together and are second to almost every 50/50.

13 min: The hosts so close to doubling their lead! Rangers attack on the counter-attack and Cerny strides forward on the right. He cuts inside Carter-Vickers and unleashes a shot that loops onto the top of the Schmeichel’s bar and over! It took a little nick off Scales’ back, so will be a corner. Without that deflection, it may well have found the net.

11 min: Now, then. We have a proper game on our hands. Diomande in central midfield has shown a couple of lovely touches for Rangers. And Jefte, at left back, has won his early battles against the dangerous Kuhn.

9 min: Perhaps I’m being a little unfair on that Hagi finish. It wasn’t the most powerful but it was so precise. Fair play to the Romanian, whose father Gheorghe is in the stands today.

Rangers lead! Raskin, Rangers’ captain for the day, intercepts a lazy Scales pass in midfield and drives forward to the edge of the box. The Belgian lays the ball off to Hagi, who shoots early and catches Schmeichel on his heels. Hagi’s left-footed shot trickles into the side netting and Ibrox goes wild!

5 min: Cerny finds some space on the right and whips a cross in. The ball falls kindly three times to a blue shirt but three times Carter-Vickers makes a block. Rangers fans call for a penalty but there’s nothing doing.

3 min: From the corner, Celtic take it short and McGregor whips a brilliant ball to the far post. Yilmaz, playing at the unfamiliar position of right back today, is caught on his heels and Kyogo so nearly has a tap in! The Japanese misread the flight of the ball and Rangers were able to hack it clear.

2 min: Maeda gets free down the left wing and whips a dangerous cross into the near post. Kyogo swings and misses and Rangers nervously get the ball behind for a corner.

Peeeeeeeeeep! We’re underway in Glasgow.

There is a minute’s silence for the 66 victims of the Ibrox disaster in 1971, 54 years to the day. Impeccably observed.

The teams are out. Ibrox is rocking!

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers speaks:

It’s always a stern test. We’re looking forward to it. The players have shown great skill and talent and we play with discipline. That’s what required in a game like this.

We know they have gifted players but we’re coming here to impose our game.

Arne Engels wasn’t so well this morning, so that made it an easy decision to put Paulo [Bernardo] in.

What a game this is for Liam KellyRangers’ back up goalkeeper who starts today after Butland was hospitalised with internal bleeding. Kelly joined the club aged 10 and spent nine years in Rangers’ academy but after a series of loans left the club permanently in 2018 without making a first-team appearance. After spells at Livingston, QPR and Motherwell, Kelly re-signed for his boyhood club in the summer and finally made his Rangers debut in last month’s win over Dundee. This derby, however, is a very different prospect.

Today marks 54 years since the Ibrox disaster, in which 66 Rangers fans died.

There was a memorial service outside Ibrox earlier this afternoon, which Rangers manager Philippe Clement attended.

This is the current league tablein case Rangers fans need reminding. For the neutral at least, a shame that Aberdeen’s early-season form has fallen away.

Rangers are severely weakenedbut do have Rabbi Matondo and Cyriel Dessers on the bench if they need to make attacking changes. Turns out Balogun is not fit enough to even make the bench.

Celtic are almost at full strength. Only James Forrest and Odin Holm are out.

Rangers: Kelly, Sterling, Propper, Yilmaz, Jefte, Diomande, Raskin, Cerny, Bajrami, Hagi, Igamane.
Subs: Munn, Cortes, Barron, Dessers, Matondo, Dowell, King, Fraser, Danilo.

Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, Hatate, McGregor, Bernardo, Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda.
Subs: Sinisalo, Trusty, Palma, Idah, Valle, Yang, McCowan, Engels, Ralston.

Referee: Don Robertson

Happy new year everyone. If the Old Firm derby is one of the fiercest in world football, this 2025 edition means the least it has done for some time. Celtic are 14 points clear at the top, impressing in the Champions League, have a proven manager, a vastly superior budget to anyone else in Scotland and have conceded just four goals in 18 league matches this season (scoring 52).

Rangers are on their worst run of the season, winning just one (a 1-0 home win over Dundee) of their past five fixtures in all competitions. The truth has always been thus: Rangers must aim to win every domestic game, and they have been a long way off that this season. There is little time to ‘build a project’ or ‘blood promising youngsters’. Manager Philippe Clement is increasingly under pressure, perhaps unfairly given the circumstances.

To make matters worse, Rangers and Clement have an injury crisis, with captain James Tavernier, Tom Lawrence, Neraysho Kasanwirjo and John Souttar all sidelined. In one of the more bizarre injuries of the season, goalkeeper Jack Butland spent Tuesday night in hospital after what he has described as “significant” internal bleeding in a leg. He is stable and recovering at home but won’t play today. Centre-back Leon Balogun is a doubt but may be available after taking a knock in the 2-2 draw at Motherwell.

Still, the sun is shining in Glasgow. This fixture is normally a midday kick-off, but many of the 50,000 Rangers fans will be well lubricated and ready to cheer their heroes towards an unlikely win. There might not be much to play in relation to the league table, but the Old Firm has always been much, much more than that. It’s on!

Kick-off: 3pm GMT.