Celtic have been nailed over eight Ibrox sins as Philippe Clement FINALLY grabbed the Old Firm bragging rights.
The under pressure Belgian had failed to overcome Brendan Rodgers and the Hoops since his arrival in Glasgow with the Premier Sports Cup Final last month still raw in the mind after Ridvan Yilmaz was the penalty sinner at Hampden. However, he got that winning feeling over the Hoops at Ibrox to bring some late festive cheer and a big smile to the faces of the Light Blues faithful to kick off 2025 in style.
The points tally still stands at 11 points between the pair at the summit after goals from Ianis Hagi, Vaclav Cerny and sub Danilo but after stumbles against Motherwell and St Mirren – this was the type of performance and display both Clement and the Rangers faithful have been crying out for.
Neil McCann on commentary duty hammered Celtic for being ‘bullied’ in the New Year derby while he also criticised Reo Hatate in a ‘never been so bad’ observation. Not only that but he also told Rodgers that his troops were SPOOKED while Kris Boyd in the studio at half-time told the champions they ‘stunk out the place’.
Record Sport’s Chris Sutton didn’t argue the case with the Celtic hero branding the performance a wake-up call to his old club and one that Rodgers would head back to Celtic Park and ‘lick his wounds over’ while he listed off the areas that Rangers trumped the Hoops in during the derby day showdown. Here are 8 quotes from the pundits during the 90 plus minutes of action.
Neil McCann
“They are getting bullied by Rangers right now. I have never seen Reo Hatate’s distribution so bad. He’s turned the ball over so many times to this Rangers side today, yes they are in good positions but it is so uncharacteristically bad from him. I never thought I would say it but Celtic players look a little bit spooked. They just seem a little bit disjointed.”
Kris Boyd
“Celtic have stunk the place out this first half. They have been terrible.”
Billy Dodds
“Did you see the shape of Celtic’s back four there? They were ragged! They are rattled.”
Chris Sutton
“Rangers have been more aggressive than Celtic this afternoon. They’ve been quicker, sharper and stronger. It will be a bit of a wake up call for Brendan Rodgers and his team. They’ve won all the duels all over the park the Rangers players have. He [Brendan Rodgers] will go back to Celtic Park and lick his wounds. And Celtic will have to go again.
“From Celtic’s perspective it is about dusting themselves down and getting on with the next game but that was very un-Celtic and Brendan Rodgers like performance. Just flat all afternoon. Never got the passing game going. Rangers were better in every department.”