Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 at Celtic Park, Ryan Naderi scoring the only goal of the Old Firm derby — a result that leaves Celtic with three straight defeats and the title race blown wide open. With no visiting supporters allowed at any of this season’s Glasgow derbies, the winning goal arrived in an almost silent stadium: the only sounds were fists beating against the clear plastic of the Rangers bench and the shouting of the broadcast commentators.
Naderi’s goal was bundled in from close range after Kim Min-su’s long-range effort was parried helpfully into his path by Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo. It was, in the assessment of the match, the most consequential emblem of Rangers’ superiority on the day.
Derek McInnes arrived with an unchanged team, and Rangers delivered coherent patterns of play and a functional, hungry midfield. James Penrice, on his way to club-legend status after just nine games, was again the beating heart of the derby, underlapping through the centre, popping up in the box and putting a header just wide. Dan Neill and Nicolas Raskin are already forging a formidable partnership in the middle, while Naderi and Kim created havoc in the attacking areas. McInnes’s side are by no means the finished article, but in their biggest test of the season they showed unity and spirit — the deceptively tough business of repeatable skills under the highest pressure. Tempers flared between McInnes and his opposite number on the touchline.
For Celtic, there was very little. Even as they desperately chased the game in the final minutes, they could barely fashion a chance and barely got hold of the ball. Martin O’Neill sprang a surprise by bringing Luke McCowan into midfield, discarded his back five at half-time and rolled through his substitutions, but no plan ever really emerged from the fog.
Few of the big summer signings looked equipped for a game of this magnitude. Kasper Høgh was only introduced at half-time and offered little. Camilo Durán gave Emmanuel Fernandez a rough ride early on before disappearing from view. Mika Baur looked overawed, overrun by a Rangers midfield superior not just in numbers but in purpose. The chaotic end to the transfer window and the calamitous European exit to Lask offer an illusion of urgency, but this is a squad that has needed refreshment for years.
That leaves awkward questions. Is Callum McGregor, a club legend at 33 and the captain, still fit for purpose after looking desperately off the pace for some time? Does Liam Scales need replacing? Does Kieran Tierney still have the legs? Are either of their goalkeepers actually any good? Does O’Neill have the expertise to steer them out of trouble? And would you trust a board still essentially hollow of footballing expertise to oversee the changes required?
A three-week international break now follows, and noises and voices will pour into the void. The temptation for a club of Celtic’s size will be to block out the noise and stay the course — a grave mistake, given the alarming drop in standards on display. Last season’s double illustrated that this club can still rise above adversity, but there can no longer be any hiding place.
That Rangers were unable to celebrate the triumph with fans in the stadium was a source of lament, and a measure of just how ugly this fixture has become. It is a failure not just of the two fanbases but of the authorities, who have talked a tough game on sectarianism while doing little in practice to combat it at source. Over the years Celtic against Rangers has become the sort of fixture that is no longer relished but dreaded — and it is Celtic who will wake with the heavier heads on Monday morning.