Thank you very much for joining me.
Here is Ewan Murray’s match report to enjoy.
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No real positives for Celtic to take out of that. Rangers look better organised and their forward capable of breaking down defences.
Rangers are just currently a lot better than Celtic. The Hoops look like a team in need of an overhaul, that’s for sure.
Full-time: Rangers 4-1 Celtic
Rangers did not have to get out of third gear in the second half to ensure victory of 10-man Celtic. The difference in quality was noticeable from the start and it is a further sign of how much work the next Celtic boss has to do.
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GOAL! Rangers 4-1 Celtic (90+2)
Defoe twists and turns in the box before putting Welsh on his bum, allowing the striker to pick his spot in the bottom corner with his left foot.
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90 mins: Three minutes added on.
88 mins: Everyone going through the motions now. Not much to see here.
86 mins: Defoe is on for Roofe. Gerrard does not give the former Leeds man the chance to get an Old Firm hat-trick.
84 mins: Morelos is the latest to suffer a muscle issue, holding his groin and then his hamstring. He is replaced by Hagi.
82 mins: Hagi is set to come on for Rangers, too. Rangers could not fill their full allocation of subs but they still have a decent array.
Elyounoussi should reduce the deficit but he misjudges the cross from Christie and uses his face rather than forehead to direct it at goal, resulting in his attempt going tamely wide.
80 mins: Wright has come on for Barisic due to the injury, meaning Aribo has dropped to left-back.
Ajer dribbles through the Rangers defence, showing some fine skill on the way but his shot is wayward and flies well wide.
78 mins: Barisic is down, holding his thigh after sending a pass down the line. No one was near him, so it must be a muscle problem. He is coming off.
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76 mins: Scott Wright is preparing to come on for Rangers.
74 mins: Turnbull swings in a free-kick from the left but McGregor comes 12 yards out to punch the ball downfield.
Johnstone replaces Edouard for Celtic.
72 mins: Tavernier sends in another fantastic cross, which Roofe attacks in hope of getting his hat-trick but Ajer and Kenny do well to hold off the striker, allowing Bain to collect.
70 mins: Edouard shows some lovely feet to get the better of a bamboozled Simpson but he delays shooting and when he does it is a weak effort, which is deflected wide. Morelos heads clear the resulting corner at the front post.
68 mins: Rangers break on Celtic but it all falls apart when Morelos whacks his cross into a defender.
Simon McMahon says: “Celtic this season have made Liverpool’s title defence look positively heroic in comparison. As much as Rangers have been excellent, Celtic have been a shambles, to put it mildly.”
OMNISHAMBLES!
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66 mins: Tavernier tries to ping in a cross, but only succeeds in knocking down Taylor. Rangers do get a corner which their skipper swings in - after a bit of pinball, Aribo has a shot which is deflected wide for another corner.
64 mins: Morelos receives a pass from Kent, allowing the striker to drive towards the box and whack a shot at goal but it is straight at Bain.
Elyounoussi is booked for trying to remove Kent’s shirt.
62 mins: A timely reminder that Ally McCoist is the best co-comms in the business. Get him to do every game. He is one of the few that recognise that football is actually supposed to be fun.
60 mins: Christie and Soro are coming on for Celtic. They have a job on their hands to turn this around. Brown departs an Old Firm derby for the final time. Forrest has also come off.
GOAL! Rangers 3-1 Celtic (Roofe, 57)
Rangers take their time, before Roofe sends the ball out to Barisic, who has time to pick his spot in the box, specifically the spot Roofe has run into, allowing him to calmly head home his second of the game.
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55 mins: Tavernier sends the ball up to Morelos before continuing his run, but the striker fails to return the favour as his pass is poor, allowing the defender to cut it out.
Down the other end, Forrest flashes cross into the box but Turnbull does not make good contact with his diving header and it flies well wide.
53 mins: Kent produces some tricks to send Taylor completely the wrong way before dinking a cross into the box but it is headed up and over.
51 mins: Rangers have controlled possession since the restart, with Celtic barely having a kick. With a touch more intensity, I think Ranges could finish this off as a contest quite quickly.
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49 mins: Brown dramatically dives in to clear the ball up to the halfway. This could be a long half for Celtic.
47 mins: Tavernier swings in a cross from the right which looks simple for Ajer to volley away but he goes with his right foot and slices it. Luckily, for the defender, it goes straight into his goalkeeper’s arms.
Second-half
Here we go again!
Simon McMahon emails to say: “Afternoon Will. Quite the first half at Ibrox given there’s nowt at stake in the league. Both teams going for it. Also, I’d have thought both managers might have rested some players ahead of the Scottish Cup semi finals next week? I’m joking, of course. This season is the first since the 1940’s that neither Celtic nor Rangers have made it past the quarter finals in both domestic cup competitions. Time for a $cottish $up€r Cup..?”
I am sure plans are afoot for Rangers to play Celtic every week, like happens in Guernsey (or Jersey).
Well a fun half of football that was. Three goals in seven minutes and a sending off thrown into the mix made it a touch frenetic, that’s for sure. Celtic have held their own since McGregor’s dismissal, so the game is not dead.
Half-time! Rangers 2-1 Celtic
There is no time added on despite three goals and a sending off.
44 mins: Edouard drives into the box, beating Goldson easily, only to see Davis sprinting back to perform a perfect sliding tackle to end the attack.
42 mins: The latest Celtic corner reaches Edouard but he heads it down, taking the pace off the ball and allowing McGregor to claim.
There have already been 18 shots in this match.
40 mins: Celtic win a corner on the left. Turnbull swings it in but Rangers clear and begin a break which is curtailed near the halfway line. Set-pieces might be Celtic’s best bet for the remainder of the match.
Saying that, Forrest should equalise after picking up a pass from Ajer in the box but he drags his shot wide from close range.
38 mins: It is a busy afternoon for the referee, as Celtic dish out two fouls in as many seconds. He blows for the first and decides against handing out a booking. Will Celtic manage to keen 10 on the pitch?
36 mins: I think the county cricket blog would be an enjoyably calming on a day like this.
At Ibrox, Morelos pings a shot from 20 yards but it is straight at Bain.
34 mins: This is certainly not boring. I am not sure I will be able to keep up if it carries on like this.
GOAL! Rangers 2-1 Celtic (Morelos, 32)
Barisic sends in a cross which is cleared but it is played straight back into the box to Morelos, who beats one defender and then smashes the ball into the back of the net from eight yards.
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31 mins: Rangers almost take the lead again when a cross lands at the feet of Roofe who spins and fires off a shot which is straight at Bain. Morelos tries to pounce on the rebound but instead smashes into the defender.
GOAL! Rangers 1-1 Celtic (Edouard, 30)
Kenny tries to bring some impetus to the Celtic side with a deep cross from the right which almost ends up in the back of the net but McGregor reacts to tip it over. The resulting corner is headed down by Ajer and Edouard pounces to send it in.
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28 mins: Celtic are a goal and a man now down. This will be a tough final hour for the visitors, that’s for sure.
GOAL! Rangers 1-0 Celtic (Roofe, 26)/ Red card for McGregor
What is going on?! The referee does superbly well to play on when Kamara is cleaned out by by McGregor. The loose ball reaches Aribo, who pulls it back for Kent whose weak shot is headed home by Roofe on the edge of the six yard box. In other news, Callum McGregor is shown his second yellow for the foul on Kamara.
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26 mins: OFF THE BAR! Elyounoussi picks up the ball just inside the Rangers half, before driving forward and firing a dipping shot from 30 yards which McGregor tips onto the bar. What a fantastic save.
24 mins: Turnbull shows some lovely footwork to get away from a Rangers defender, before sending in a cross with the outside of his boot, only to see it land in Allan McGregor’s arms.
Callum McGregor goes into the book after taking out Kent following a nutmeg.
22 mins: Kent is looking very lively for Rangers and could be the man to make a really difference here. He is repeatedly looking to attack the Celtic backline and sooner or later he will get a shot away, I am sure.
20 mins: Aribo dribbles down the left and looks to send the ball into the box but his pass only finds a Celtic defender.
A Barisic cross is headed out to the edge of the box where Kent his lurking but he can’t control his volley which flies well wide.
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18 mins: Simpson is booked after clattering into Edouard. That is harsh as the striker knew what he was doing by backing into him. Not the best bit of refereeing I have seen.
16 mins: Rangers are looking more comfortable in possession but Celtic seem to have the greater intent.
14 mins: Ajer drives 40 yards up the pitch, with the ball eventually reaching Forrest who cuts in from the right and whacks a shot at goal which hits his own player. The ball reaches Kamara inside his own box, resulting in a panic clearance behind from the Rangers man.
12 mins: How has he not scored?! Tavernier pings in a beautiful cross from the right, which finds Morelos lurking unmarked at the back post but the striker misjudges the flight and sends the ball backwards from three yards.
10 mins: A free-kick is ping into the box, Aribo heads it into a more dangerous position but Celtic manage to clear. Rangers are definitely looking the better side at the moment.
8 mins: Rangers are starting to find a bit of fluency here. Kent slips Aribo through but his cross is blocked by Welsh.
6 mins: Morelos once against goes down in pain, letting out a cry of pain after a coming together with Elyounoussi. Top shithousery early doors from the Rangers striker. The subsequent free-kick is sent straight out of play.
4 mins: Elyounoussi gets into a good position in the box but his cross is blocked. The forward gets the ball back and tries to score with a backheel but it is diverted behind.
2 mins: Morelos goes down like a sack of spuds after being dispossessed in the channel. He final gets up after about 30 seconds when he belatedly realises he is not getting a free-kick. Start as you mean to go on, Alfredo.
Kick-off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
The managers have spoken.
Gerrard: “The mood wasn’t great after last week as expected, so this is a good opportunity to flip that mood.
“This is an Old Firm game at home, we’ve been super strong here and we want to continue that.”
Kennedy: “We want to win the game, we’ve not done that recently against Rangers.
“Performance-wise we’ve been stable, the difference has been in the boxes, they’ve been clinical and we haven’t.”
Looks a lovely day in Glasgow, so no one can complain about the conditions.
Stiliyan Petrov slipping into Glaswegian is a wonderful thing to listen to. Disappointed they could not get Peter Lovenkrands to join them for his Scandinavian/Glasgow accent.
Rangers are looking to bounce back from their Scottish Cup defeat to St Johnstone.
James Tavernier feels an Old Firm derby is a fine way to recover from such a defeat.
He said: “As a Rangers player, no matter what part of the season or even if it’s a friendly – you always want to win a game and our objective this weekend is to get maximum points.
“That’s what’s required of us and that’s the standards we’ve set ourselves this season so we want to finish the campaign off strong and we’ll give it our best on Sunday.
“The mentality comes from the foundations from the years we’ve had together. The additions who have come in have added that quality but the mentality from the get-go is from hard work and listening to what the gaffer and coaching team want us to do on game day.
“It’s about being fully focused with what’s in hand. The Old Firm games usually take care of themselves and all the boys are raring to go and we can’t wait until Sunday.
“It’s the perfect game to go into coming off the back of being knocked out of the cup.
“It’s football. We got beat in a penalty shoot-out. In a normal game, normal day we would have come out of that game with a draw so it’s one of those things that’s happened, it’s in the past, we’ve reflected on it this week and we move on.
“When you come to Rangers you want to win every single game and three defeats in 53 games is some achievement and it just shows how much desire and consistency they’ve put into this season and that they’ve continued that after we’ve won the league.
“We want to try and finish off the season strong with three games to go, we can’t wait for the Old Firm and then the two games after that.”
John Kennedy hopes a victory today for Celtic could be a turning point after a poor season.
If they do get the better of Rangers, it could be the springboard they need to challenge once again next time around.
The former Celtic defender said: “Football can change very quickly. We’ve seen it from the dominant success we’ve had to going into a tough season very quickly.
“It quickly can change and it’s the same going the other way. Every opportunity you receive you’ve got to try and make that the turning point.
“We’ve had a tough time this year, we make no excuses for that, we’re responsible for that, but we have to then turn that around.
“At a club like Celtic, you have to do it as quickly as possible and get back to winning ways.
“We don’t like being starved of silverware. We’ve been used to success for so long and this season has been very alien to us because we’ve not managed to win anything and it’s not something we want to continue.
“The next game is Rangers, can we set our stall out to make this the start point of the next era of success?
“We have to do that, whether it’s Sunday or the next game, we have to get the wheels in motion in terms of how we move forward.”
Rangers are on top in this fixture.
Starting lineups
Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Simpson, Barisic, Davis, Kamara, Aribo, Kent, Morelos, Roofe
Subs: McLaughlin, King, Hagi, Stewart, Wright, Itten, Defoe
Celtic: Bain; Taylor, Brown, Turnbull, Kenny, Edouard, Elyounoussi, Ajer, McGregor, Forrest, Welsh
Subs: Barkas, Bitton, Griffiths, Ajeti, Soro, Christie, Johnston, Ralston, Laxalt
Preamble
Good morning!
It is all to play for in Scotland. Essentially today is about pride for Celtic, while Rangers will be desperate to rub their title win thoroughly in the faces of their rivals.
A victory for Rangers will put them within touching distance of completing the league campaign undefeated, which is an impressive feat. It is a notoriously fierce fixture and this will be no different will not want to give an inch to their rivals. Rangers last went unbeaten against Celtic in a season back in 1999-2000, so replicating that 21 years later will be a nice footnote to the season.
The visitors, however, have only lost once since John Kennedy replaced Neil Lennon as manager, showing they have improved following a dreadful first half to the season by their standards.
Let’s hope for plenty of fun.
Kick-off 12pm BST.
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