This was a movie that has been stuck on repeat for Celtic and for Rangers.
The heroes and villains have not not changed with Kyogo Furuhashi and Callum McGregor once more the central characters to the narrative while James Tavernier found himself cast in the eye of a storm, particularly for Daizen Maeda’s critical opening goal in the game as Celtic moved five points clear of Rangers.
For Brendan Rodgers, too, this fixture is one he has been imperious in; he has lost just one in 19 of these games.
The Hollywood moments, though, belonged to Kyogo and then, later, to McGregor.
First, the former; the Japanese internationalist has now scored six goals in 11 Premiership games against Rangers and eight goals in his last 10 starts in this fixture in all competition. He has become the torturer-in-chief for the Ibrox side. And the latter? McGregor has been pivotal to Celtic in this fixture, pulling the midfield strings and dominating the central pastures. In the opening minutes of this game, Rangers had Connor Barron trying to set a tone with a crunching tackle on Kyogo. If it seemed crude, it was simply brushed off by a Celtic side who brushed everything the Ibrox side could throw at them aside.
Crucially, for Philippe Clement this is another game where he has been unable to engineer a result against Celtic – this one, his fifth attempt. Ultimately, while Rangers fans will accept that there is a need for patience as they rebuild, the reality is that all Rangers managers find that the barometer of their time in charge is measured against how they fare against their biggest rivals.
And while Celtic at one stage as the opening period drew to a close that they could ramp up the ante at any point as Rangers squirmed and panicked, there was the notable aspect that Brendan Rodgers’ side did not include any of his deadline day signings. The expectation is that Celtic will further improve from a start to the season that suggests there are few who will live them in a domestic sense.
The opener came from the boot of Maeda, but there was a comedy of errors before the ball hit the back of the net with the fullback causing all manner of issues.
Rabbi Matondo allowed Alistair Johnston to go, Robin Propper slipped as the cutback came in while Tavernier slept as Maeda nicked in front of him to exact full punishment for the sloppiness.
Rangers had actually started the game brightly but with Matondo and Cyriel Dessers with decent chances, albeit that both would have been offside had their efforts counted.
Celtic’s response was swift with Kyogo netting, although VAR ruled the goal didn’t count with Nicolas Kuhn marginally offside. It seemed to lift the tempo of the game with Celtic seizing the initiative as they began to keep Rangers penned into their own half.
Maeda’s opener had a touch of inevitability about it but by the time that Kyogo netted, Celtic were rampant. Reo Hatate had arched an effort wide of the top corner as Celtic repeated exposed the frailties within Rangers’ defence.
Greg Taylor deserved credit for the build-up to Kyogo’s goal as the full-back nicked the ball off the toe of Vaclav Cerny and played it to the feet of the Kyogo. The striker advanced before picking his spot as he calmly passed the ball past Jack Butland and into the bottom corner.
As Rangers prayed for the sanctuary of the dressing room, Celtic kept on coming.
The Ibrox side emerged from the break keen to find a foothold in the game with Dessers forcing a save from Kasper Schmeichel while John Souttar forced Liam Scales into a block.
Kyogo, though, ought to have sealed the deal for Celtic when he attempted an audacious Henrik Larsson-esque chip that he dinked just wide of the target.
James Forrest was introduced off the bench for his 500th Celtic appearance moments before McGregor gave Celtic the third goal that killed Rangers off. The Celtic midfielder collected, draped his shoulder, cut inside and rifled a 20-yard effort into the net. It seemed to nick off of Jefte, but there was no mistaking the quality of the effort.
There was a debut for Luke McCowan, too, with the pressure all off Celtic.
Schmeichel saved from Tavernier before spreading himself to deny Ross McCausland, a moment that seemed indicative of Rangers’ performance; even when there were moments of encouragement there was little real threat to a Celtic side that look a world away from anything the Ibrox side can offer.
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