... and with that full and frank interview in the bag, that’s your lot. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
A visibly livid Giovanni van Bronckhorst responds to his first defeat as Rangers boss. “It was very disappointing. If you start an Old Firm game like this ... it seemed like it’s the first Old Firm we played! We knew what we had to do, the ambience, the environment, the pressure. But it seemed like we were not ready for it. If you see the way we gave the goals away ... it was unbelievable. Our Old Firm game started in the second half, when we played really well. But in the first we gave the game away. It wasn’t something I expected. When the whistle blew, we were waiting for the goal to be scored, and that is impossible. We were too naive, we deserved to be down 3-0.”
He’s then asked about his players’ annoyance at the referee’s refusal to stop the game ahead of the first goal when Calvin Bassey was prone in the box. “It’s a decision for the referee. You have to defend the ball. You don’t stop when the ref don’t whistle, so for me that’s something that’s unbelievable to see. We had an honest conversation in the locker room after the game, obviously we were not the way we wanted. We have to stick together and make sure we look forward. We are not the first Rangers team to lose. I lost very big here when I was a player, but we became champion that year. Obviously we want to win this game, but this game does not decide the championship. We still have many games to play and we have to be ready.”
Ange Postecoglou talks to Sky. “I’m very proud of the lads. Our first half was outstanding. The football we played was just brilliant, we could have had a few more. Allan McGregor was outstanding in their goal. Second half, we had to defend a bit more, but we showed we can defend if we need to. Full credit to the players, we knew it was a big game with consequences, there was pressure on us, and I thought they handled it superbly. We wanted to set the tempo, and we did that today. The whole side was outstanding, but it was good for Reo Hatate to get a couple of goals. We know he’s got quality. He’ll get better, it’s only his third game and you can see he’s nowhere near the levels of fitness required, but we’ll build him up. We’re not happy with where we are, we want to get better. We lost three of our first six, and couldn’t afford to not get out of that pretty quickly and almost be perfect, so we’ve been under pressure. I’ve had some special moments in football, but tonight’s atmosphere was one of them.”
More post-match patter to come from the managers ... but Ewan Murray was at Parkhead tonight, and his report is in. Off you click, but don’t forget to come back.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor, mask off and displaying the awful shiner he suffered against Alloa, talks to Sky. “The crowd were unbelievable, they gave us a real boost of energy and we responded to that. The football we played in the first half was first class. We were really ruthless, finishing the game off before half time, so credit to the lads. The manager demands we play fast, attacking football, and we knew we had to take our chances and put them away. We will stay calm, we’ve done a lot of hard work since the start of the season, but there’s a long way to go, a lot of football to be played.” He departs with a content smile, having been given the man-of-the-match award ... to pass on to recipient Reo Hatate in the dressing room.
That’s a statement victory for Celtic all right. Reo Hatate scored two and set one up for Liel Abada, to become an instant midfield hero for the Bhoys. Celtic go top as a result, one point ahead of Rangers, who will be hoping their own January purchase, Aaron Ramsey, can have a similar immediate impact on the Scottish Premiership. The champions need some sort of boost, because they were toothless up front and totally shambolic at the back, shipping three goals for the second time in five days. Take nothing away from Celtic, though; they were immense from front to back, and are playing some gorgeous, fast, free-flowing stuff under Ange Postecoglou. With 14 games to go, we’ve got ourselves a title race here, and Celtic are the new favourites.
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FULL TIME: Celtic 3-0 Rangers
Celtic have comprehensively defeated the champions, and leapfrog them to go top of the Scottish Premiership!
90 min +4: Doak is booked for getting up in Sakala’s grille. A free kick out on the right flank. Tavernier knocks long. Kent, on the other wing, loops in from Goldson who should head a consolation from six yards. Over the bar it goes.
90 min +3: This will be Celtic’s first win over Rangers since 2019. What a job Ange Postecoglou is doing at Parkhead. Celtic were all over the shop when he turned up!
90 min +2: Nothing much happens in the first two, having said that.
90 min: There will be five extra minutes, an announcement that will chill Rangers to the marrow. Plenty of time for a cherry on top for Celtic.
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88 min: Celtic make a couple of changes before the resulting corner. After plenty of faffing, Doak and Soro come on for Jota and O’Riley. Then it turns out that the corner wasn’t worth waiting for.
86 min: O’Riley goes direct, looking for the spectacular, across McGregor and towards the top left. The keeper tips over.
85 min: Rangers make a meal of clearing the corner, and Forrest’s determination to win the ball down the right forces Aribo into barging him over. Free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the side of the box.
84 min: Jota skitters into the Rangers box from the left and tries to open up enough space for a shot. He has to settle for a corner off Goldson. He takes it himself, looping long, forcing a back-pedalling McGregor to tip out for another corner, this time from the right.
83 min: Goldson strides down the right and crosses. Catching practice for Hart. The Celtic fans, not that you’ll need telling this, are in party mode.
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81 min: Kent makes good down the left and pulls back for Jack, whose first-time cross is dealt with easily enough by Starfelt, who whacks clear. Fair play to Rangers, who will be feeling very sorry for themselves but are nevertheless pressing for a consolation.
79 min: Celtic clear the resulting corner, but Jack picks up possession 30 yards out and aims for the top left. He larrups a stunning shot off the crossbar and away. It’s already long been established that this isn’t Rangers’ day, but that puts the tin lid on it. What a goal that would have been, Hart beaten all ends up!
78 min: Kent skedaddles down the left touchline and is crudely checked by Forrest, who is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. He gets up and drives down the wing again, laying off for Bassey, whose looping cross is headed behind by Carter-Vickers just as Roofe was winding his neck back.
76 min: ... and now Balogun is yellow-carded for flipping Forest into the air like an old sock. Half-time dreamer Simon McMahon could get his red card yet.
74 min: Tavernier is booked for a cynical block on Jota, who had beaten him all ends up.
73 min: Jack hooks a speculative shot over the bar from the edge of the box. He’s looked decent since coming on, the best performer in Light Blue. Yes, yes, that low bar.
72 min: The two-goal, one-assist hero Reo Hatate is replaced by McCarthy. A well-deserved ovation sends him on his way.
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71 min: Sakala romps down the right and aims for the bottom-right corner. Blocked and cleared. Arfield and Sakala make a nuisance of themselves just inside the Celtic box on the right. Arfield shoots. Starfelt blocks. The ball breaks to Kent, who can’t quite force a shot goalwards. Better from Rangers, even if the bar is set subterranean.
69 min: Van Bronckhorst complains that the Parkhead ball boys aren’t giving his team the ball back quickly enough. You’d think he’d be happy for them to run the clock down and limit the chance of a thrashing for the ages, so hats off to him for positive thinking if nothing else.
67 min: Arfield comes in late on Taylor, swinging through the Celtic defender’s standing leg. No harm done, and it was mistimed rather than malicious, so although the crowd want official retribution, we play on.
66 min: Jack slips a ball in from the right for Roofe, who tries to tee up Sakala on the penalty spot with a cushioned pass. Up goes the flag, and the ball doesn’t get through to Sakala anyway.
64 min: Forrest fires a cross in from the right and wins a corner off Bassey. Doesn’t that make you smile, Celtic fans? Nothing comes of the set piece, though, and the attack burns itself out. ♯Doo doo doo...♯
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63 min: Kent twists and twirls down the left, stepping infield and cracking a shot towards the bottom right. It’s easy pickings for Hart.
62 min: Celtic refresh their front line with a double change. Abada and a disappointed-looking Giakoumakis are replaced by Forrest and Maeda.
60 min: Kent works a yard down the left and curls a teasing cross through the six-yard box. Neither Roofe nor Sakala have taken a gamble, and the chance to trundle home from close range is gone. Celtic are delighted to wave the ball out for a goal kick.
59 min: A free kick for Rangers out on the right. Everyone lines up on the edge of the box. Tavernier’s delivery is so poor it drops ten yards shy of the box, and is blootered clear with ease.
57 min: Some fairly pointless possession for Rangers in the middle of the park. It takes a little of the sting out of the atmosphere for a few seconds, if nothing else.
55 min: Sakala drops a shoulder and nearly gets past Starfelt down the right. The Swede does just enough to ease himself across the Rangers winger and shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Sakala stumbles and claims a penalty, but no, no, no.
54 min: ... but then again, one goal might change everything. Arfield latches onto a loose ball 30 yards from the Celtic goal, and takes a speculative whack towards the top left. The ball flies inches over the bar, at some speed as well. It’s not certain that Hart would have got there, had the ball been an inch or two lower.
53 min: Kent is stripped of possession by Juranovic, who backheels down the right for Abada. Bassey is panicked into a shirt tug, and into the book he goes. Nothing comes of the free kick, but you can see the genuine concern in Bassey’s eyes, and he’s blowing hard as well. Rangers are there for the taking.
51 min: Rangers continue to look very shaky at the back. Giakoumakis troubles Balogun down the right. He can’t quite barge his way through. Then Jota and that man Hatate one-two down the left, nearly fashioning an opening. This could be a long second half for Rangers.
49 min: O’Riley crosses deep from the left and nearly finds Giakoumakis at the far stick. Sky have just pointed out that Van Bronckhorst lost his final Old Firm derby as a player 6-2. He’ll need a serious response from his team if his first as a manager isn’t to end in similarly embarrassing circumstances.
47 min: Sakala dribbles hard down the right and nearly wins a corner, only for the ball to ping back off him and out for a goal kick. Small acorns.
Celtic get the second half underway. A furious Rangers boss Gio van Bronckhorst has hooked three of his players, replacing Diallo, Kamara and Barisic with Sakala, Jack and Balogun. “If it hadn’t been for McGregor, there would be no point in Rangers coming out for the second half,” writes John Graham. “It should be six. Some brilliant football from Celtic.” Kris Boyd made exactly the same point, citing the same number of goals, during the half-time break on Sky. He also made a fair case for saying the opening goal should have been ruled out, Aribo and Bassey clashing heads, referee Bobby Madden raising the whistle to his lips but declining to blow as Hatate’s shot whistled into the net.
Reo Hatate, though! Two goals and an assist in his first 45 minutes of Old Firm football. “He seems to have settled well,” says master of understatement Gerry Scott, of the 24-year-old Japanese midfielder who signed on New Year’s Day from J1 League champions Kawasaki Frontale. “Has anyone ever signed in the winter transfer window and won Player of the Year?”
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: Celtic 3-0 Rangers
The roof copters off into space as the denizens of Parkhead give their team the ear-splitting ovation they deserve ... and 60,000 Celtic fans can’t be wrong, because the hosts have been as sensationally good as Rangers have been appalling. “Well we’ve had the goals,” writes Simon McMahon. “Now for the red cards…”
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45 min: Two more minutes until the half-time whistle. Rangers would settle for the full-time whistle right now. They’re in absolute tatters at the back.
GOAL! Celtic 3-0 Rangers (Abada 44)
Hatate reaches the byline down the left, beating Tavernier all ends up. He loops into the middle. The ball drops into a huge gap in the Rangers defence, allowing Abada to race in from the right and meet it first time, slamming past McGregor and into the net!
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43 min: The coolest of finishes, with a celebration to match: Hatate simply looks up to the skies and smiles serenely. And it gets even better for Celtic, because ...
GOAL! Celtic 2-0 Rangers (Hatate 42)
A second for Celtic, and a second for Hatate! Juranovic, O’Riley and Abada combine cutely down the right. Abada rolls inside to tee up Hatate, 25 yards out. Hatate takes aim and sends a perfectly placed curler around McGregor and into the bottom right. What a lovely move with a finish to match!
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41 min: A chance for Rangers to equalise is spurned, as Aribo overhits a simple pass through the middle. He should have released Arfield into the box, but Hart is now able to slide out, smother and claim. And it’s a costly miss, because ...
40 min: Jota embarks on an exciting left-to-right run across the face of the Rangers box. He’s stopped in his tracks by a crunching Kamara tackle. Rangers look to counter quickly through Diallo down the right. Diallo doesn’t back himself to beat Taylor and the chance to break into the box is gone.
38 min: Diallo has the opportunity to shoot from 25 yards, but hesitates and opts for the easier option, a pass wide right for Tavernier. The Rangers captain loops an aimless cross high over the box to nobody in particular.
36 min: McGregor takes a whack from distance, only to shank it miles into the stand. The hosts nevertheless look much more likely to score another than Rangers do to equalise.
34 min: Giakoumakis looks to meet Hatate’s left-wing cross, but goes over under pressure from Bassey. He wants a penalty, but isn’t getting one. A little bit of light wrestling from Bassey, but it would have been incredibly harsh to penalise him for it.
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33 min: Kent cuts in from the left and sends a poor low shot dribbling into the arms of Hart. It’s a shot on target, I guess. Celtic counter, O’Riley and Abada combining down the right, the latter’s cross being hoicked clear by Goldson with Giakoumakis lurking.
32 min: Tavernier swings it in from the right. Goldson competes to win a header, six yards out, but is crowded out of it. Celtic clear, but that’s the first time Rangers have caused the hosts any sort of trouble.
31 min: Tavernier crosses from the right, and earns his side their first corner of the match.
29 min: Abada dribbles purposefully down the right and wins a corner off Barisic. Another corner. O’Riley and Taylor ping a short one-two and nearly work space, but Rangers clear, and counter through Diallo and Kent. They try to open Celtic up down the left wing with an exchange of their own, but Diallo’s return pass is too strong, allowing Hatate to get in the road and shepherd the ball away from danger.
27 min: O’Riley crosses from the right. A low curler. Giakoumakis meets it on the edge of the six-yard box, level with the right-hand post. He sweeps a weak shot straight at McGregor, who is earning his money tonight. Rangers go up the other end through Aribo, who reaches the box then goes over as he passes Taylor. He demands a penalty, but he’s never getting one for that, no matter how hard he looks for it.
26 min: Kent barges Juranovic to the ground. The crowd bay for a yellow card to level up the disciplinary tally, but it’s a garden-variety foul, nothing more. The crowd are not happy.
24 min: Rangers enjoy some sterile possession in the midfield. They needed that. It’s all been a bit panicked and frantic from the men in light blue.
22 min: The first booking of the evening is copped by McGregor. Arfield bursts past him down the middle, and is brought down by the Celtic captain’s cynical hanging leg. Tavernier swings the resulting free kick into the mixer, but Barisic, out on the left, is soon found nervously turning tail instead of crossing, and passing the ball all the way back to McGregor.
20 min: Rangers can’t get out of their final third at the minute. A free kick out on the left for Celtic. Everyone in the box. O’Riley sends a poor one over everybody’s head and out for a goal kick. Some blessed relief for the visitors, who having briefly steadied the ship are rocking again.
18 min: Celtic are playing some wonderful, fast-paced, first-time football. O’Riley slips a ball down the right for Abada, who pulls back from the byline for Giakoumakis. The striker aims for the top right. McGregor again sticks out a strong arm to deny Celtic. The keeper in payback mode here.
17 min: A stat from the good folk at Sky Sports will gladden the hearts of the Celtic support: the team scoring first have lost only four of the last 93 Old Firm derbies.
15 min: McGregor cost Rangers a couple of goals in Dingwall last weekend, but he’s paid back some moral credit here. Tavernier’s loose pass allows Jota to pick up possession on the left. He pearls a shot towards the top right. The keeper parries. The ball loops up to Giakoumakis, who bashes a header goalwards from eight yards. McGregor parries again, and Rangers clear. What a fine double save! It’s kept Rangers in this. It’s also kept the roof on Parkhead, as per Mary Waltz’s email of a minute ago.
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14 min: After their shaky start, Rangers are beginning to find their feet. A few slightly calmer passes in the midfield. Not that the noise abates. “I have not heard a louder crowd since the pandemic started,” says Mary Waltz. “If Celtic score another the roof will blow off.”
13 min: It’s hard to know which is louder: the cheering when Celtic attack, or the pantomime whistling when Rangers have the ball. Some more of the latter as Kent dribbles in from the left and draws a free kick from some pincer-moving Celts. Barisic hoicks it in. Celtic struggle to clear, Diallo causing a spot of bother for them out on the right. The Manchester United loanee can’t get a cross in, though, and eventually the hosts batter clear.
11 min: Barisic busies himself down the left and looks to have run the ball out for a goal kick. But he digs out a cross at the last possible second, and Starfelt does very well to react and clear with Roofe lurking in the centre.
10 min: So as things stand, Celtic, having stumbled through their worst start to a league campaign in two decades, will be top at the end of the evening. A long way to go, though. “It’s a pretty low bar admittedly, but this has got to be better than the city derby I was at last night in Dundee, a goalless bore fest in which both teams were lucky to get nil,” writes Simon McMahon. “No goals in the Edinburgh derby either. Here’s hoping tonight brings a few. And possibly some red cards too.”
8 min: It’s right that the goal stands - Celtic did nothing wrong, and Rangers failed to clear their lines - but no doubt there will be the odd column mile written about that. The good news for Rangers is that Bassey is good to continue having been checked out by the doctors.
6 min: Rangers aren’t happy, Bassey having been prone in the box. But there was no foul - the Rangers men clanked into each other - and the goal stands. Tavernier continues a protest, but it’s all in vain.
GOAL! Celtic 1-0 Rangers (Hatate 5)
Another corner is won out on the right. Aribo heads clear, and runs into Bassey, who falls and stays down. The ball breaks to Hatate, 25 yards out. He sends a low drive through the box. The ball takes a little deflection and flies into the bottom right. What a start!
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4 min: McGregor, sporting a face mask to shield the injury he suffered at Alloa, wins possession in the midfield, and the first corner of the game is won down the right. That leads to some pinball in the Rangers box, and for a second it looks as though a replica of Ross County’s late equaliser last weekend will be scored. Taylor tries to slam home from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, only for his effort to be blocked. No worries for Celtic, though, because ...
2 min: Good luck hearing yourself think. The noise is ear-splitting. Rangers will take succour from having been given a send-off by a delegation of their fans when their bus pulled away from Ibrox.
Rangers get the latest Old Firm derby underway. You’ll Never Walk Alone ringing off the rafters. Diallo has a brief look down the right. Then Celtic take up possession through Jota, who probes along the left. Goal kick.
The teams are out. No need to tell you who’s dressed in what. No real need to inform you about the level of noise at Parkhead either ... though there aren’t any Rangers songs to be heard, just Celtic ones. If you know your history, that’s because Celtic weren’t allocated any for the first meeting of the season at Ibrox, this wretched pandemic causing all manner of problems. We’ll be off in a minute!
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Ange Postecoglou speaks to Sky. “It should be cracking tonight. Our supporters are up for it, and our players as well. It’s one of those nights you look forward to, and hopefully we’ll put in a performance. It’s a great boost to get Callum McGregor back. He feels fine and ready to go. He’s our captain and he’ll give our boys a lift. We’ve progressed our football.”
Gio van Bronckhorst does as well. “It’s a big game. You want big games in your career, and they don’t come any bigger than they come today. It’s an important game, one of the 38 we play, but it’s the rival we are playing. There are three points to be won, and we have to do everything we can to get a result. It’s a big challenge, I don’t think they come bigger than this, and we don’t have our fans with us. We have to keep focus on the game. My players are used to the pressure.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor is back after suffering concussion and a facial knock at Alloa last month. He’s one of four changes to the XI named for the 1-0 win over Dundee United on Saturday afternoon. Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor and Jota also return, with Liam Scales, Anthony Ralston and James Forrest dropping to the bench. Nir Bitton is suspended for the red card he picked up against Dundee United. Daizen Maeda is on the bench despite playing 22 minutes for Japan yesterday.
Rangers make just one change to the team that could only draw 3-3 at Ross County last Saturday. Kemar Roofe comes in up front for Cedric Itten, who drops to the bench. Neither of their deadline-day signings are available, with Aaron Ramsey and Polish right-back Mateusz Zukowski not yet up to Scottish Premiership speed.
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The teams
Celtic: Hart, Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor, O’Riley, Hatate, Abada, McGregor, Jota, Giakoumakis.
Subs: Scales, Soro, McCarthy, Bain, Maeda, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh, Doak.
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Bassey, Barisic, Kamara, Arfield, Aribo, Kent, Diallo, Roofe.
Subs: Lundstram, Jack, Davis, Itten, Sands, Balogun, Sakala, McLaughlin, Lowry.
Will be trending on Twitter tonight, one way or another: Bobby Madden (Scotland).
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Preamble
Celtic’s last victory over Rangers was that absurd smash-and-grab heist at the 2019 Scottish League Cup final. Since then, the Old Firm have met seven times, Rangers winning six of them and drawing the other ... but that’s a run Celtic are hopeful of ending this evening. The momentum is with Ange Postecoglou’s men, who have won 12 of their previous 13 matches in all competitions, the latest in the sequence a last-gasp win against Dundee United that reduced the gap at the top to two points.
Rangers by contrast are stuttering a little. The reigning champions have dropped points from winning positions in two of their last three league games, at Aberdeen and Ross County, and only just squeaked past Livingston at Ibrox in the other. All of a sudden, a reasonably healthy lead at the top has been frittered down to two points, and their arch rivals can leapfrog them if they win tonight.
Celtic could be boosted by the welcome return of captain Callum McGregor, but will be without top scorer Kyogo Furuhashi. Rangers meanwhile have to make do without Alfredo Morelos, while new signings Aaron Ramsey and Mateusz Zukowski aren’t yet up to speed. It’s a huge night in Glasgow, one that will have a huge bearing on the story of the run-in. Kick off is at 7.45pm. It’s on!
