Rangers inflicted Celtic’s first defeat of the season with a 3-0 win, while old firm Hohooo through Philippe Clement ended up easing the strain on the struggling Rangers manager.
With the problems abandoned at St Mirren and Motherwell, Clement’s was sacked to beat their rivals for the first time since May 2023.
They were the biggest team from the beginning and Ianis Hagi gave life to enthusiasts when he shot in the first game with only seven minutes to the end.
Vaclav Cerny hit the woodwork on any of Kyogo’s purposes as the rangers continued to dominate. Robin Propper hit his moment with Danilo coming off the bench to a full win 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 was far from reaching 11 clear points in the race by the name of the Scottish Premiership, since Clement seems to have won the enthusiasts again, for now.
The Rangers were aimless, Jack Butland and Captain James Tavernier, however, started with a genuine target and Nedim Bajrami had 3 shots temporarily blocked when they were an early breakthrough.
It took seven minutes for Ibrox to come to life when Hagi brought the captain back on for Raskin to send a brilliant strike into the corner of the net.
The excited hosts.
Vaclav Cerny almost doubled the lead a while later, his shot deflecting off Liam’s scales and clipping Ridvan Yilmaz’s most sensible off the crossbar, then forcing Kasper Schmeichel to release a few minutes later.
Celtic had a hard time giving a pass to Daizen Maeda, the most productive they had to offer in the first hour.
Hagi had to put the 2-0 when Reo Hatate lost the ball, but this time his shot was diverted.
Then Cameron Carter-Vickers with a brilliantly timed slide rescue to save Mohamed Diomande from taking the Rangers further.
Jefte left Nicolas Kuhn with a cut nose as half-time approached while collecting a reserve. Following the resulting free-kick, Liam Kelly pulled off a brilliant save on his early debut to prevent Maeda from scoring from Paulo Bernardo’s corner.
The captains clashed at the whistle with Raskin showing a yellow while Callum McGregor, already in a reserve, escaped the penalty.
Celtic looked to get back into the match and Kyogo sent a brilliant steal past Kelly and into the net, but Var was shown to be 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 have threatened.
Schmeichel got down to push Cerny’s shot past, but seconds later they doubled their lead as Propper slammed the ball in on the rebound after Raskin’s header was blocked.
The hosts were looking for more and Schmeichel stopped Yilmaz’s long-range shot when the hoops looked surprised.
And it wasn’t over yet when Danilo came off the bench here to sweep the third with his first hit of the game.
The fans were in dreamland but still, objects were thrown from the stands onto the pitch late on with police involved in clearing them.
Clement led his players to celebrate with the fans as Celtic players threw themselves into the Ibrox tunnel in disbelief at his poor performance.
Rangers boss Philippe Clement 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 evidence of that and we will have to continue like this in the coming weeks and months.
“Nico [Raskin] wasn’t in a position to be Captain a few months ago. But take action. The more captains you have, the bigger your team is.
“It is a very vital victory. This provides confidence to enthusiasts and all those who adhere to the Rangers. This new team is built, has a lot of prospective and the paintings with force. They are my paintings and my paintings and my project too.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on Sky Sports:
“I thought the best team won. I thought Rangers were better 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 the third purpose, dazzling once behind, we lose the ball.
“We made too many mistakes in the adjustment 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 stopping the ball and then we lacked merit when we didn’t have it.
“Too passive, competitive enough. All around, a very intelligent performance. “