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.
Hurting from dropped points at St Mirren and Motherwell, Clement’s side were fired up to beat their rivals for the first time since May 2023.
They made the biggest start and Ianis Hagi provoked the lifers when he fired in the first game with just seven minutes on the clock.
Vaclav Cerny hit the post from a Kyogo shot as Rangers continued to dominate. Robin Propper scored his moment with Danilo coming off the bench to complete a comprehensive victory with his first touch.
Part of the brightness of the victory tarnished when Arne Engels del Celtic hit a currency launched between the crowd, and the Scottish police are now investigating.
Celtic were far from their best but remain 11 points ahead in the Scottish Premiership title race as Clement looks to have won over the fans again, for now.
Rangers were without goalkeeper Jack Butland and captain James Tavernier, but they started with real intent and Nedim Bajrami had three shots blocked in quick succession as they looked for an early lead.
Ibrox took seven minutes to come alive when Hagi recovered the captain replacing Raskin to send a brilliant shot in the corner of the network.
The excited hosts.
Vaclav Cerny almost doubled the lead soon after, his shot deflecting off Liam Scales and clipping the top of the bar with Ridvan Yilmaz, then forcing Kasper Schmeichel to do so a few minutes later.
Celtic fought to attach a pass with Daizen Maeda, Daizen Maeda, which they had to offer in the first partial hour.
Hagi had to make it 2-0 when Reo Hatate gave the ball away, but this time his shot went wide.
Then Cameron Carter-Vickers to the rescue with a brilliant, timed sliding version to save it, Mohamed Diomande to put Rangers over.
Jefte left Nicolas Kuhn with a cut nose as half-time approached when he picked up a reserve. After the resulting free kick was cleared, Liam Kelly pulled off a brilliant save on his former signing debut to prevent Maeda from scoring from Paulo Bernardo’s corner.
The captains faced when the beep sounds, Raskin showed a yellow card while Callum McGregor, already in reserve, was fought from a new sanction.
Celtic looked to get back into the game and Kyogo sent a brilliant steal to Kelly and into the net, but Var showed he was offside.
Cerny then shook the woodwork when his shot hit the post before Rodgers adjusted with Adam Idah, Alex Valle and Luke McCowan replacing Kyogo, Greg Taylor and Bernardo.
The Rangers threatened again.
Schmeichel crouched down to push Cerny’s shot, but seconds later they doubled his advantage when propper hit the ball in the rebound after a shower of Raskin blocked.
The hosts wanted more and Schmeichel parried Yilmaz’s long-range strike behind as the Hoops looked shellshocked.
And they had not finished when Danilo left here from the bank to sweep the third with his first touch 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 enthusiasts, while the Celtic players passed through the Ibrox tunnel, incredulous at their poor performance.
Rangers owner Philippe Clément, Sky Sports:
“It is very intelligent because the boys have won the prize they deserve. What they have received in recent weeks, in the last of the League Cup and in the last two games, we shoot a ball on the foot with AIMS granted.
“Things weren’t looking our way at the time, however, you can see that even with injuries and players out, everyone in this team runs very hard to do more and more.
“It’s proof of that and we need to continue like this in the coming weeks and months.
“Nico [Raskin] was not in a position for the captaincy a few months ago, but he is taking action. The more captains you have, the greater your team.
“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 realize the team won. I imagine the Rangers were bigger than us.
“We made too many mistakes. When they score the first goal, it adds a touch of flavor to the stadium and to everyone in the game, and then in the second goal we lost it from the corner and in the third goal, obviously, we lost again. ” the ball. . .
“We made too many goals in the game and the Rangers deserved to win.
“This is what you need and it is your adjustment plan. I felt that we decrease the ball, then we lost ourselves more when Didary
“Too passive, not aggressive enough. All round, not a very good performance.”