Rangers are shredded by ruthless, clinical and powerful champions

Long after the great Old Firm managers leave the battlefield there are times when their paths cross at some event or other. Over a glass of red they reminisce, sharing anecdotes about the sound and fury of Glasgow’s derby, about its compelling and even comical intensity.
Sit with figures like Graeme Souness and Martin O’Neill — who were back in Glasgow the other day — and they tell the old war stories with relish, often taking most fun from recounting some hardship or torment they had to endure in the heat of battle. Some pain.
Will the Old Firm game ever bring real pain for Brendan Rodgers? Will it ever be more than a “season-defining” fixture in name only? When Rodgers’ time comes to reminiscence with the other old warriors he will have little to recount but win after win after win. Another of them here — his 16th in 19 Old Firm games, with only a solitary defeat back in 2018 — was as convincing as any. Celtic are top of the Premiership again, already five points ahead of their city rivals after just four games. Those are the bare statistics. Way above that, this was an emphatic demonstration of the gulf in quality.
Celtic shredded Rangers. If the outcome is predictable under Rodgers then so is its cause. Only one side is clinical, only one side is ruthless, only one side has the cocktail of quality and character which shapes a fixture as riotous as this. Actually, Celtic were not quite as clinical as they might have been, given their chances, or they would have won by five or six.
They had Rangers chasing shadows, all the same, bringing all of the game’s penetration and threat on the ball. They moved Rangers around, causing all sorts of defensive panic in a wretched day for manager Philippe Clement and his team. At times his defence was in tatters and the midfield was outclassed. While their own moves petered out and they lost individual battles as the heart fell out of them, Celtic put them to the sword. The champions swept home thrilling goals and tantalised their support — which filled all 60,000 seats again, with Rangers fans no doubt relieved to have been denied tickets — with the prospect of feasting on an even greater beating.
It was a familiar story. Daizen Maeda usually terrorises James Tavernier and he went to town on him as mercilessly as ever, scoring the first. Kyogo Furuhashi has become Rangers’ tormentor in chief and naturally he scored again. Callum McGregor bosses the derby and the Celtic captain won possession and strode forward to place a sumptuous long range finish past Jack Butland for 3-0. Cue carnival time.
Rangers had started well enough, pressing eagerly and keeping Celtic pinned in their own half for a while. Mo Diomande was on McGregor and had some initial success before the Celtic captain shook him off to take control. Robin Propper headed a ball across the Celtic goalmouth and Cyriel Dessers collected a sharp Tavernier pass but shot too weakly at Kasper Schmeichel. He was offside in any case, as was Rabbi Matondo when he sent a header wide.
And then Celtic awoke and Rangers began to crumble. Suddenly they swept forward, McGregor pouncing and releasing Nicolas Kuhn in behind Rangers with Furuhashi racing through the middle. The delivery was swept home, an opener removed from them when VAR identified that Furuhashi had run offside, but the momentum changed. Celtic began to move it more crisply and with purpose. Six minutes later they had a goal which stood. Paulo Bernardo’s cute pass played in Alistair Johnston and he had the drive and determination to reach it and force a cutback to Maeda as Rangers’ defenders slipped and spread and panicked. Maeda got there before Tavernier to bury the finish.
The fire was lit. Jefté was booked, then Johnston, then Rangers coach Alex Rae for having too much to say for himself in the technical area. Celtic started to get in behind on either side, Maeda worrying Tavernier while Kuhn was equally effective on the other side against Jefté. Rangers did not know where Celtic would come at them next. The game was getting away from them, the tackles and loose balls now being won by Celtic, the dangerous attacks igniting when they won possession in midfield and released passes fast and early.
Bernardo and Reo Hatate’s deliveries carried far more menace than any of the Rangers midfielders, the wingers were quick and hungry, and Furuhashi gave them a zip, mobility and sharpness Dessers can never bring to Rangers. Maeda met Bernardo’s corner to the near post with a glancing header which flashed across goal. Connor Barron was dispossessed and Celtic flew forward to create a chance for Maeda and then Hatate.
When Greg Taylor snapped in, taking it for Celtic again, he played it to Furuhashi’s feet. No one was near him, this striker who has written his name all over the Old Firm game in the past two years. Furuhashi powered on and placed a low shot into the corner with Butland’s positioning questionable. Furuhashi has eight goals in his last ten starts against Rangers.
Schmeichel made a fine late save from Ross McCausland on an otherwise comfortable Old Firm debut. Barron, Propper, Jefté and Vaclav Cerny had their first for Rangers and would have wanted to go home and lie in a darkened room. Clement has rebuilt the Rangers squad but they are spending on a far lower level than Celtic.
In another show of strength, on a day of them, Rodgers took off Bernardo to a standing ovation and introduced Arne Engels, the £11million club record signing, for his debut. Rangers grafted and made some half-chances but lacked any conviction or quality. Hatate lasered a through ball for Furuhashi, who tried a chipped finish fans would have gorged on for years, but he sent it wide. Over to McGregor, instead, to lash home the third.