Rangers inflicted Celtic’s first defeat of the season with a 3-0 win as Philippe Clement’s Old Firm hoodoo ended to ease some pressure on the struggling Rangers manager.
Wounded by the problems lost in St Mirren and Motherwell, Clement’s was motivated to overcome their rivals for the first time since May 2023.
They were the senior team at the start and Ianis Hagi brought the enthusiasts to life when he fired in the first game with just seven minutes to go.
Vaclav Cerny hit the woodwork, either of Kyogo’s purposes as the rangers continued to dominate. Robin Propper criticized the house for its moment with Danilo coming off the bench for an all-round victory with his first touch.
Part of the brilliance taken from the victory when Arne Engels of Celtic hit a currency thrown into the crowd, the police in Scotland are now investigating.
Celtic went from his best moment, but 11 transparent problems remained in the name of the Premier League Scottish, since Clement seems to have won the enthusiasts for now.
Rangers were held goalless by Jack Butland and captain James Tavernier but with genuine intent and Nedim Bajrami had 3 shots temporarily blocked as they looked for an early lead.
It took just seven minutes for Ibrox to burst into life when Hagi collected from stand-in captain Raskin to send a brilliant strike into the corner of the net.
The hosts were fired up.
Vaclav Cerny almost doubled their lead soon after, his shot deflecting off Liam Scales and clipping the top of the crossbar with Ridvan Yilmaz then forcing Kasper Schmeichel into a save minutes later.
Celtic struggled to string a pass together with Daizen Maeda’s off-target shot the best they had to offer in the first half an hour.
Hagi had to make it 2-0 when Reo Hatate gave the ball away, but this time he dragged his shot wide.
Then it was Cameron Carter-Vickers who went to the rescue with a brilliantly synchronized slide to prevent Mohamed Diomande from giving the advantage to the Rangers.
Jefte left Nicolas Kuhn with a cut nose as half-time approached when he collected a reserve. After the resulting free kick was cleared, Liam Kelly made a brilliant save on his former signing debut to deny Maeda scoring from Paulo Bernardo’s corner.
The captains faced when the whistle sounds, Raskin received a yellow card and Callum McGregor, which was already under warning, escaped extra punishment.
Celtic looked to get back into the game and Kyogo sent a brilliant steal to Kelly and into the net, but Var showed that he was offside.
Cerny then rattled the woodwork again as his shot crashed off the post before Rodgers rang the changes with Adam Idah, Alex Valle and Luke McCowan replacing Kyogo, Greg Taylor and Bernardo.
The Rangers threatened.
Schmeichel set up to deflect Cerny’s shot, but seconds later they doubled their lead when Propper fired the ball on the rebound after Raskin’s header was blocked.
The hosts were looking for more and Schmeichel seems to be the long-range shot from Yilmaz as the hoops are surprised.
And they weren’t done yet as Danilo came off the bench to sweep in the third with his first touch of the game.
The fans were in dreamland, but objects were still being thrown out of time from the stands onto the pitch and the police were concerned with evacuating them.
Clement took his players to celebrate with the fans while the Celtic players trudged down the Ibrox tunnel in disbelief at their poor showing.
Rangers boss Philippe Clement told Sky Sports:
“It feels very good as the boys got the reward they deserve. What they didn’t get in the last couple of weeks – in the League Cup final and in the last couple of games – we shot ourselves in the foot with goals conceded.
“Things were not on our side then, but you can see that even with injuries and players, all in this team are running very hard to be better.
“This is proof of this and we will have to continue doing so in the coming weeks and months.
“Nico [Raskin] was not in a position to be a captain a few months ago. But he is taking action. The more captains you have, the greater your team.
“It’s a very vital victory. It provides confidence to enthusiasts and everyone who follows the rangers. This new team is building, has a lot of foresight and difficult paintings to do. That’s my job and my project too.
Celtic Brendan Rodgers in Sky Sports:
“I think the team won. I think the Rangers were more so than us.
“We made too many mistakes. When they write down the first purpose, it provides a spice to the stadium and everyone in the game, then the moment of the purpose we lose in the corner and in the third purpose, dazzling once behind, we lose the ball.
“We scored too many goals in the game and Rangers deserved to win.
“It’s not what you need and it’s not your game plan. I felt we were slowing down the ball and then we lacked an advantage when we didn’t have it.
“Too passive, not competitive enough. In general, it is not a very intelligent performance. “