Steven Gerrard's goalscoring return to Anfield was briefly marred by unsavoury scenes as he was targeted with bottles by Celtic supporters on Saturday afternoon.
The 42-year-old was back on his old stamping ground as part of the Liverpool Foundation's yearly Legends match, with Scottish Premiership giants Celtic the opponents for the 2023 event.
However, despite the Bhoys travelling down to Merseyside in impressive numbers as they filled out the lower tier of the Anfield Road End with 4,000 supporters, the game was tarnished just before half-time.
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Distasteful scenes occurred when Gerrard was handed the opportunity to score from the penalty spot after Martin Skrtel was fouled by Darren O'Dea inside the box. The Liverpool icon made no mistake to break the deadlock as he sent Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc the wrong way from the spot.
But upon celebrating in front of the away supporters, Gerrard was the subject of a handful of water bottles and plastic cups as Celtic supporters were left visibly disgruntled by the former Rangers manager's celebration.
Gerrard, who was most recently sacked as manager of Aston Villa in October, enjoyed a three-year spell at Celtic's Old-Firm rivals rom 2018 to 2021, where he ended the Bhoys' nine-year stranglehold on the Scottish Premiership title. During the remarkable 2020-21 campaign, Gerrard led Rangers to a club-record 102 points after winning 32 of their 38 league fixtures.
But after leaving Glasgow for an underwhelming 11-month spell at Villa Park, Gerrard now finds himself out of club management and has recently been linked with potential vacancies across the world game, including Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain and Turkish Super Lig side Trabzonspor.
Liverpool and Gerrard, though, would have the final laugh at Anfield on Saturday afternoon as they ran out 2-0 winners, with the Reds' lead doubled by Mark Gonzalez shortly after the interval when he punished some lousy Celtic defending.
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