Rangers inflicted Celtic’s first defeat of the season with a 3-0 win when Philippe Clement’s voodoo Old Firm ended up relieving the long-suffering Rangers coach.
Dou making deserted problems at St Mirren and Motherwell, Clement’s team has been sacked to beat rivals for the first time since May 2023.
They were better since the beginning and Ianis Hagi encouraged enthusiasts when he scored the first goal with only seven minutes on the clock.
Vaclav Cerny hit the woodwork on either of Kyogo’s goals as the Rangers continued to dominate. Robin Propper hit his moment with Danilo coming off the bench to a victory with his first touch.
Scottish police are now investigating some of the shine that was lost in the victory when Celtic’s Arne Engels hit a coin thrown from the crowd.
Celtic were far from transparent in their 11 transparent issues in the Scottish Premier League naming race, while Clement turns out to have won the enthusiasts again, for the time being.
The Rangers were without goalkeeper Jack Butland and Captain James Tavernier but they with genuine intent and Nedim Bajrami blocked 3 shots in quick succession as they looked for an early lead.
Ibrox took only seven minutes to come alive when Hagi picked up the substitute Captain Raskin to send a brilliant shot to the corner of the network.
The hosts were fired up.
Vaclav Cerny almost doubled his lead a while later, his shot deflecting Liam’s scales and he cut the most sensible off the crossbar with Ridvan Yilmaz and then forced Kasper Schmeichel to save a few minutes later.
Celtic struggled to combine a pass and Daizen Maeda’s deflected shot was the most productive they could offer in the first hour.
Hagi had to do 2-0 when Reo Hatate gave the ball, but this time he dragged his shot largely.
Then Cameron Carter-Vickers who came to the rescue here with a brilliantly timed sliding take to deny Mohamed Diomande giving Rangers the lead.
Jefte left Nicolas Kuhn with a cut nose as half-time approached as he picked up a booking. After the resultant free-kick was cleared, Liam Kelly pulled off a brilliant save on his Old Firm debut to stop Maeda scoring from Paulo Bernardo’s corner.
The captains faced when the whistle sounds: Raskin appeared with a yellow card, while Callum McGregor, already admonished, fought from the penalty.
Celtic tried to fit again and Kyogo sent a brilliant robbery to Kelly and the network, 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 again.
Schmeichel dedicated himself to rejecting Cerny’s shot, but seconds later they doubled his leadership when propper hit the ball to the rebound after Raskin’s header blocked.
The hosts wanted more and Schmeichel parried Yilmaz’s long-range strike behind as the Hoops looked shellshocked.
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 even so, objects were thrown from the stands onto the field with delay and the police took care to erase them.
Clement led his players to celebrate with fans while Celtic players walked painfully through the unbelievers’ ibrox tunnel for their poor performance.
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 out, everyone in this squad is working really hard to become better and better.
“This is proof of that and we will have to continue like this in the coming weeks and months.
“Nico [Raskin] was not ready for captaincy a few months ago. But he is taking steps. The more captains you have, the better your team is.
“It’s a very important victory. It gives confidence to enthusiasts and everyone who follows Rangers. This new team is being formed, there are many prospects and we will work hard to achieve it. It is my task and my project as well. “
Celtic Brendan Rodgers on Sky Sports:
“I think the team won. I think the Rangers were better than us.
“We made too many mistakes. When they get the first purpose, it provides a spice to the stadium and everyone in the game, and then the moment of the moment we lose it from the corner and the third purpose, obviously, again, we lose the ball. .
“We did too many in the game and the Rangers deserved to win it.
“It’s not what you need and it’s not your game plan. I just felt like we were holding the ball back and then we lacked merit when we didn’t have it.
“Too passive, just enough competitive. All around, very intelligent performance. “