RANGERS eased the pressure on their manager Philippe Clement with their first win over Celtic in a meaningful William Hill Premiership match in nearly three and a half years at Ibrox this afternoon.
An early Ianis Hagi strike gave the home team, who dominated the encounter from start to finish despite the key men they were missing, the lead and Robin Propper and substitute Danilo struck after half-time to sew up three richly deserved points.
The Glasgow club, who had last prevailed in a competitive league fixture against their city rivals on August 29, 2021, may still have been 11 points behind the defending champions in the table at the end of 90 one-sided minutes.
Still, the result was, following a defeat to St Mirren and a draw with Motherwell last week, welcome for Clement. It was his first victory in the world-famous fixture after five defeats and a draw.
Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, suffered just his second loss in the derby. Here are five talking points from events in Govan.
Rampant Rangers, out-of-sorts Celtic
Hagi, who was being watched by his legendary father Gheorghe, opened the scoring in the seventh minute after Nicolas Raskin teed him up with a back heel on the edge of the visitors penalty box.
The Romanian struck a first time left foot shot which eluded the outstretched Kasper Schmeichel and found the bottom left corner of the net. His wildly celebrated strike visibly lifted his side. They enjoyed by far the best of things thereafter.
Rangers looked set to double their advantage when Nedim Bajrami fed Mohamed Diomande in the opposition area six minutes before half-time.
But Cameron Carter-Vickers, the Celtic centre-half who was celebrating his 27th birthday, produced a perfectly-timed tackle and averted the danger.
However, Propper added a second at a Vaclav Cerny corner in 65th minute after Adam Idah had cleared a Raskin header off his line. The hosts continued to push hard for a third to the delight of their followers and Danilo supplied it shortly after taking over from Nedim Bajrami.
Makeshift defence
With goalkeeper Jack Butland, right-backs James Tavernier and Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Leon Balogun and John Souttar all sidelined by injury, Rangers fielded a makeshift defence and then some.
Ridvan Yilmaz slotted in on the right of the back four, Dujon Sterling and Propper retained their places in the heart of the rearguard and Jefte stayed on the left. Behind then, Liam Kelly came in to make his second appearance.
Further forward, with Raskin, who donned the captain’s armband in the absence of Tavernier, partnering Mohamed Diomande in midfield, Hagi, Bajrami and Cerny forming the threequarter line and Hamza Igamane up front, the hosts looked stronger.
But would their hastily cobbled together defence contain Daizen Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn and Kyogo Furuhashi? They certainly could. Kelly had next to nothing to do during the opening 45 minutes.
He was finally called into action at a Paulo Bernardo corner in the fifth minute off added on time at the end of the first half when the ball broke to Reo Hatate. But the former Livingston, Queens Park Rangers and Motherwell man palmed the attempt wide.
Furuhashi got into decent positions twice early in the second half. But on both occasions Sterling was alert to the threat which the striker posed and calmly dispossessed him. The forward lobbed Kelly after being supplied by Kuhn but his effort was ruled offside after a VAR check.
Rodgers took off Furuhashi, Bernardo, Greg Taylor and Hatate and threw on Idah, Luke McCowan, Alex Valle and Arne Engels, but the replacements made no difference whatsoever to proceedings. It was the first domestic loss Celtic had suffered since March and they could have no complaints about the outcome.
Midfield monsters
The success which Celtic have enjoyed in matches against Rangers in the past few years has very much been built on the platform which their captain Callum McGregor gives them in the middle of the park.
But Raskin and Diomande were more than a match for the former Scotland internationalist, as well as his team mates Bernardo and Hatate, in that crucial area this afternoon.
The former was yellow carded by referee Don Robertson in added on time at the end of the first half for squaring up to his fellow skipper. There was nothing in the exchange, it was just tempers flaring in what is always a highly charged encounter. But it was an indication the Belgian would not be bullied by his feted rival.
Cerny saw a deflected shot hit the crossbar in the first half and struck the inside of the post in the second, Hagi took his goal well and worked tirelessly to thereafter and Igamane looked a threat whenever he got on the ball. The margin of victory could easily have been even greater.
Clement class
Time will tell if this performance and triumph is the beginning of better times for Rangers and Clement. It could very well just earn the former Club Brugge and Monaco manager a stay of execution. Celtic will sneed to suffer a collapse of unprecedented proportions not to lift their fourth consecutive Scottish title.
Still, the Belgian certainly silenced a few doubters among the Ibrox support today. The display was remarkable given the number of important players who were out. The man responsible can take great pride from how his men acquitted themselves.
Fan ban
This game will be, with a bit of luck, the last game between Celtic and Rangers which no away fans will be in attendance at.
The standoff between the boards of the Glasgow clubs over the allocation of tickets for travelling supporters came to an end last season after a bit of prodding from broadcasters Sky Sports. Going forward, five per cent of Parkhead and Ibrox will be set aside for them.
There 51,065-strong crowd generated a decent atmosphere. When Hagi broke the deadlock the decibel levels went through the roof. But, once again, there was something sadly lacking about the occasion.
