Celtic’s job is to prove this Old Firm outcome is nowhere near as significant as Rangers would like it to be. A glance at the Scottish Premiership table – Celtic still lead their old adversaries by 11 points and 20-odd goals – suggests Brendan Rodgers and his players can achieve that. It is simply that the scale of Celtic’s ineptitude in this 3-0 defeat had to be seen to be believed. Not one element of their team functioned properly.
Rangers opened 2025 in swashbuckling style against rattled, ragged opposition. This was a puzzling afternoon for Celtic, one that is bound to trigger speculation about complacency with the title all but guaranteed.
To his credit Rodgers did nothing to sugarcoat his side’s display. The Celtic manager told his players at half-time they surely could not be as poor in the second 45 minutes. If the visitors did improve it was only marginally. In his two spells and over 21 derbies, this was by far the poorest account a Rodgers team has given against Rangers. “It wouldn’t matter if we were 50 points clear,” he said. “Celtic-Rangers is everything for our supporters, for people everywhere. But we never played with that edge and that personality that the team has shown consistently. We were just very passive, I felt, today, which is unlike us. We were punished for that.”
Rodgers had planned to start his record signing, Arne Engels, in midfield. The Belgian was unwell on Thursday and had to settle for a place on the bench. While that can be categorised as bad fortune, other elements of Celtic’s output were by design. It was curious, for example, that Rodgers opted not to deploy the physicality of Adam Idah from the start against a makeshift Rangers defence.
Liam Kelly, the hosts’ goalkeeper, was not tested until first-half stoppage time. Leaving Auston Trusty out, with Liam Scales partnering Cameron Carter-Vickers in central defence, was equally questionable. Trusty was a £6m summer purchase surely for performing on stages such as this. It felt strange that it took 64 minutes for Rodgers to turn to his substitutes. No sooner had he done so than Robin Pröpper slammed home Rangers’ second goal. Game over. Even before illness Engels, Trusty and Idah have not played nearly as regularly as their combined price tags suggest they should have done.
Rangers will understandably rail against intense focus on Celtic. This was a much-needed, marquee moment for Philippe Clement. The low-key atmosphere around Ibrox before kick-off told a story of nervous fans, fearing another damaging afternoon. Rangers had a left-back playing at right-back, for heaven’s sake. Instead, Clement has secured a maiden derby victory. He did so in such comfortable fashion it was surely beyond his wildest new year dreams.
In front of his famous father, Gheorghe, Ianis Hagi set the tone. The midfielder’s finish was accurate rather than powerful after a lay-off from Nico Raskin. Kasper Schmeichel watched the ball nestle in his net after Scales had conceded possession cheaply. Raskin was to enjoy an outstanding afternoon in blue.
When a deflected Vaclav Cerny shot hit the crossbar Celtic were rocking. Carter-Vickers produced a goal-saving challenge on Mohamed Diomande. Celtic needed half-time for a reset that never materialised. Watching this, Rodgers’ desire to return Kieran Tierney to green and white became easy to understand.
Raskin snapped and snarled as Celtic’s midfield was overrun. Nedim Bajrami excelled at finding pockets of space for Rangers in attacking areas. Cerny came even closer to No 2, his effort rebounding from the inside of Schmeichel’s far post. Celtic failed to heed the warning, Raskin’s header from a Cerny corner blocked before the much maligned Pröpper found the net. Rodgers had called for Idah merely 120 seconds earlier.
There was no sign of Celtic making Rangers sweat for their win. Indeed, gloss was added to the scoreline for Clement as Danilo pounced on a loose ball for the third. At this point, Rangers’ supporters were surely bemoaning the absence of a Celtic following inside their stadium. There was, after all, nobody to gloat at.
“I knew in June that this was a really, really big challenge,” said Clement. “I do it because I love this club so much – the fans and everybody in the building. This is a massive club but we’re not yet where we want to be. I want to be part of that, to get this club back to the level it needs to be.”
Clement’s challenge is to avoid the one step forward, two steps back theme of recent times. Rodgers must decipher how on earth this first domestic defeat of the season happened. His professional pride will ensure he never wants it to happen again.
