Rangers produced scintillating display to claim a 3-0 win over Celtic but the frustration for many of their supporters will be that it came on the back of a week where five points were shipped to St Mirren and Motherwell.
It means the gap realistically is too large – 11 points – for this to land a serious psychological blow on Celtic but it was a performance that was eagerly lapped up by a raucous Ibrox support who had not watched their side beat Celtic in the previous seven attempts.
This wasn’t just a win after goals from Ianis Hagi, Robin Propper and Danilo, but rather a victory that reduced Celtic. They were pressed into mistakes, harried off the ball and sucked into poor decisions all over the park.
Crucially, Rangers owned the middle of the park with Celtic’s midfield trio failing at any point in the game to impose themselves.
Ironically, they had started brightly with Daizen Maeda giving Ridvan Yilmaz an early warning of his pace and menace, but it was Rangers who took the lead.
Caught on the ball just outside their own penalty box as Liam Scales was pressurised into a weak ball out, Nico Raskin laid the ball off to Hagi who drilled a low effort into the bottom corner.
Ibrox erupted, Celtic wobbled.
Vaclav Cerny clipped the crossbar with a deflected effort after Raskin had again been provider.
Yilmaz was next to nick the ball in the middle of the park before driving forward. Kasper Schmeichel calmly dealt with what was ultimately a fairly tame final shot but t was indicative of Rangers’ confidence while Celtic looked unable to bring any kind of composure to the game.
As they looked to capitalise on their pressure, Yilmaz drove an effort into the side-netting before Hagi was allowed to drive forward and whip an effort from the edge of the box past Schmeichel’s left-hand post.
Reo Hatate was next rot be harried into conceding possession with Hagi collecting on the edge of the box. His couldn’t get a clean shot away with Paulo Bernardo doing enough to put him off, with Rangers irked at no free-kick for what they felt was an infringement.
Celtic, too, has cause to complain in that regard. Nicolas Kuhn needed treatment after being smashed by Jefte with Rodgers unhappy at a yellow and not a red card for the offence.
It said much about Celtic’s display that their first shot on target did not come until deep into added time of the opening period with Reo Hatate forcing Liam Kelly into his first save of the game.
As the opening period drew to a close, Callum McGregor and Raskin clashed in the middle of the park with both sets of players involved in a brief melee. Raskin earned a booking for his trouble before referee Don Robertson ushered both teams up the tunnel.
Celtic emerged with the bit between their teeth as they looked to get themselves back into the game.
Kyogo thought he had levelled after he controlled a ball over the top on his chest before lobbing Kelly but the flag was already up, with VAR confirming the offside call, much to the frustration of the Celtic bench.
It was Rangers, though who carried menace. Cerny was denied by the woodwork for a second time in the game when he latched onto a long ball, and with the Celtic defence nowhere, he advanced before beating Schemeichel only for his effort to come off the inside of the post and roll across the face of goal before Celtic scrambled it out for a corner.
Kuhn and Alistair Johnston went into the book before Celtic rang the changes; Adam Idah, Alex Valle and Luke McCowan were introduced.
Almost immediately, though, Rangers almost added the elusive second goal with Schmeichel forced to dive low to his left to parry an Cerny effort after Valle had been turned inside out.
From the resultant corner, Rangers doubled their lead when Propper turned it in at the back post.
There was a third with Danilo adding to the scoreline after Jefte’s shot was blocked before he finished.
A deserved win, a first domestic defeat for Celtic since March and interesting now how both teams react.
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