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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
[email protected] | Mark Hendry

Celtic player ratings vs Rangers as Hoops outfought by rivals again

(left to right) Celtic's Colby Donovan, Auston Trusty, Callum McGregor and Mika Baur leave the pitch dejected after the William Hill Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Picture date: Sunday September 20, 2026.PA Photo. Photo credit should read: (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA)

Celtic suffered their third defeat on the spin as they failed to break down Rangers at Parkhead this afternoon.

The Hoops were poor in and out of possession and Ryan Naderi's strike in the first-half was enough to win all three points for the Light Blues who dominated their rivals for the second time in seven days.

Martin O'Neill tweaked his set-up before kick-off but the changes didn't work and, again, it backfired as his side were overrun and outfought.

The performance was poor and the hosts looked disjointed for 90 minutes. Here's how the Celtic squad rated on the day...

Viljami Sinisalo: 5 - Should have done better with the effort before Ryan Naderi's opening goal. Did prevent Gers extending their lead after the restart with more than one stop.

Colby Donovan: 6 - Never scared to head forward but defended for the most part with the action taking place on the opposite side. Handled the impressive James Penrice well enough but Djeidi Gassama gave him some trouble at times.

Auston Trusty: 5 - Far too slow to react to Sinisalo's parry at the opener and he never really looked comfortable at the back. Naderi caused him plenty of problems.

Cameron Carter-Vickers: 5 - Won his aerial battles and was calm on the ball but like last week, a lot of his movements were backwards and sideways. In fairness, he didn't have much movement going on ahead of him.

Liam Scales: 6 - Made plenty of blocks and won headers and can't really be accused of doing too much wrong. Shuffled out towards the left-hand side when Tierney went off but doesn't have the same impact as his teammate from that spot.

Kieran Tierney: 5 - Rattled the crossbar with a great effort in the first-half and had more to aim at after the break when Kasper Hogh arrived on the scene. Didn't take advantage of it, though, and he was subbed.

Callum McGregor: 4 - So sloppy in possession at times and guilty of turnovers relatively often for a player of his quality. His usual influence in the middle of the park was nowhere to be seen as Rangers overpowered and overran the captain.

Benjamin Nygren: 5 - Really struggled to get involved in the game from an attacking perspective. Did test Ivor Pandur in the second-half but he drifted out of the action again and was subbed.

Mika Baur: 5 - Mopped up a few times when McGregor let him down but was not good enough in the attacking phases. Also wasteful on the ball and was overwhelmed by his midfield opponents.

Luke McCowan: 3 - Didn't have any sort of positive impact from the right-hand side with most of the play down the opposite flank. Even when he did see the ball he gave it away more often than not. Subbed at the break.

Camilo Duran: 5 - Looked dangerous early on but didn't see enough of the ball and when Hogh came on he faded and was eventually taken off by the manager for Hassan.

Subs

Kasper Hogh: 2 - Didn't get a sniff in front of goal as this fixture passed him by for a second consecutive weekend.

James Forrest: 4 - Was asked to try and save the game and he was one bright spark with running power. Didn't work out for him but was one of the few players in green and white to show desire.

Sebastian Tounekti: 2 - Huffed and puffed and his final ball was poor.

Haissem Hassan: 3 - Like Forrest, the Egyptian gave Celtic a fresh dynamic but his delivery was also left wanting.

Shim Mheuka: 2 - Didn't have any time to show anything.

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