This result will have no bearing on the destination of this season’s Scottish Premiership. A Celtic lead that remains at 11 points says all we need to know about that. Events at Ibrox, though, have afforded the Rangers manager, Philippe Clement, a crucial commodity; breathing space.
On an afternoon where Rangers were as good as Celtic were awful, Clement’s side rampaged over their oldest foes. A three-goal winning margin perfectly depicted the flow of this fixture. Brendan Rodgers will remember what is only his second Old Firm defeat. Rarely are Celtic outplayed in such a manner domestically. Here, they were ragged and rattled throughout. Rodgers is not so infallible in Scotland after all.
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Ianis Hagi opened the scoring with an accurate, low drive that caught Kasper Schmeichel flat footed. The Rangers midfielder’s famous father, Gheorghe, was in the stand to watch his son’s marquee moment in blue.
If onlookers were waiting for a Celtic response, it never arrived. Indeed, it took until first-half stoppage time for the visitors to register a shot on target towards the Rangers backup goalkeeper Liam Kelly.
Vaclav Cerny should have doubled Rangers’ lead but found only the inside of the post when sent clean through. Robin Pröpper prevailed where Cerny could not, slamming home the scraps after a Nico Raskin header was blocked. Celtic remained absent as any kind of attacking force.
Danilo settled any – needless – Ibrox nerves. This time Jefté was initially denied, the substitute sending the home support into further raptures. Rangers had revenge for their recent League Cup defeat on penalties to Celtic. Clement has fired one, or three, into the eye of his many detractors.
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