Rangers 3 – 0 Celtic

Rangers inflicted Celtic’s first defeat of the season with a 3-0 win, as Philippe Clement’s old trick of relieving some pressure on the struggling Rangers manager came to an end.

Reeling from dropping points at St Mirren and Motherwell, Clement’s side were motivated to beat their rivals for the first time since May 2023, as Brendan Rodgers suffered his first loss at Ibrox.

They were the better team from the start of the game, and Ianis Hagi lit the crowd into life when he scored the opening goal just seven minutes before the game.

Vaclav Cerny hit the woodwork either side of Kyogo’s goal offside as Rangers continued to take control. Robin Propper slammed home the second goal with Danilo coming off the bench to seal a comprehensive win with his first touch.

Celtic were far from their best but remained 11 points clear in the race for the Scottish Premiership title, with Clement looking to have won over fans again, for now.

Hoops are modest at Ibrox

Rangers were without goalkeeper Jack Butland and captain James Tavernier, but they started with real intent and Nadim Bajermi made three saves in quick succession as they looked for an early lead.

It only took seven minutes for Ibrox to explode into life when Hagi received from substitute captain Raskin to send a stunning shot into the corner of the net.

The hosts were shot.

Vaclav Cerny almost doubled the score shortly after, as his shot hit Liam Scales and hit the top of the crossbar with Ridvan Yilmaz, then forced Kasper Schmeichel to save it minutes later.

Celtic struggled to connect a pass with Daizen Maeda’s shot off target the best they had to offer in the first half hour.

Hagi had a chance to make it 2-0 when Ryo Hatate lost possession but this time he tipped his shot wide.

Cameron Carter then saved Vickers with a perfectly timed sliding tackle to prevent Mohamed Diomandi from putting Rangers ahead.

Gifty Nicholas Kuhn left with a cut nose near the end of the first half when he was booked. After clearing the resulting free-kick, Liam Kelly made a superb save on his Old Firm debut to deny Maeda from Paulo Bernardo’s corner kick.

The two captains clashed at the whistle and Raskin showed a yellow card while Callum McGregor, who already had a booking, escaped further punishment.

Celtic sought to get back into the game and Kyogo sent a wonderful ball over Kelly and into the net, but the Video Assistant Referee confirmed that he was in an offside position.

Cerny then hit the woodwork again when his shot hit the post before Rodgers made changes with Adam Idah, Alex Vale and Luke McEwan replacing Kyogo, Greg Taylor and Bernardo.

Rangers threatened again.

Schmeichel got down to push Cerny’s shot into the net, but seconds later they doubled their lead as Propper slotted in the rebound after Raskin’s header had been blocked.

The home side wanted more and Yilmaz’s long-range shot was blocked by Schmeichel as the Hoops looked in shock.

And they weren’t done yet as Danilo came off the bench to score the third goal with his first touch of the game.

Fans were in dreamland, but items were thrown from the stands onto the pitch late in the game, and were removed by police.

Clement took his players to celebrate with the fans while the Celtic players walked down the Ibrox tunnel in disbelief at their poor performance.

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