SEVEN hundred and eighty seven days. A global pandemic. The end of Neil Lennon’s long success story at the club. The relinquishing of their title, and their Treble. All of these things have come to pass since Celtic last beat Rangers, as their fans know only too well.

All of that frustration, all of that emotion, came pouring down from the Celtic Park stands last night as their long wait for a win over their great rivals finally arrived. And what a win it was.

A whirlwind first half showing simply blew the visitors away, as Ange Postecoglou’s rampant, swashbuckling Celtic dislodged the champions from the top of the Premiership in devastating fashion.

It was that man Reo Hatate again who stamped his class all over proceedings, scoring a brilliantly-taken long-range double before Liel Abada had the hosts out of sight by the interval.

For the visitors, it was perhaps only the stoic resistance of Allan McGregor – who kept the score down during that first half – and the game Scott Arfield who could look themselves in the mirror for their efforts, while Celtic didn’t have a failure.

As for their manager, Postecoglou’s status at Celtic was already bordering on sainthood before his team elevated the 60,000-odd inside the stadium to the heavens for the night.

If the absence of away supporters has diminished this famous fixture a little, the scenes away from the ground showed just how much this meant to both groups of fans.

There were fireworks at Ibrox as the Rangers support roared their team away before retiring to the pubs and their houses. They may have been back with pitchforks later on, so poor was their team in the opening 45 minutes.

London Road meanwhile teemed with Celtic supporters spilling out the supporters’ clubs – flares, flags and scarves held aloft - and out in front of the crawling traffic.

The big team news from Celtic’s perspective was that captain Callum McGregor did make it into the line-up following the facial injury he picked up at Alloa. He donned a protective mask, donned the armband, and got on with it.

The form player in Abada was preferred to the experience of James Forrest on the right, but other than that, there were no eyebrows raised from Postecoglou’s selection. Daizen Maeda, fresh off the plane from Japan, made the bench.

For Rangers, their McGregor retained his place in goal after his weekend blunders at Ross County, not that it was ever in any doubt. As expected, Kemar Roofe came into the attack in place of Cedric Itten, with Alfredo Morelos still on international duty with Colombia. Nominally, at least.

It was a frantic start, as you might expect, in-keeping with the bedlam in the stands. Rangers looked shell-shocked, sitting deep, slashing at clearances and inviting pressure onto themselves. Celtic were only too happy to oblige.

Borna Barisic failed to prevent a corner on the Rangers left, and Matt O’Riley swung a ball into the area that Calvin Bassey attacked, but succeeded only in barrelling into teammate Joe Aribo.

The ball found its way to the opposite edge of the box, where Hatate took a touch with his left and caressed a right-foot shot through the crowd and across McGregor into the net.

The ground exploded in joy, but there was soon trepidation as the Rangers players claimed for a foul on Bassey. Referee Bobby Madden went across to discuss with the stand-side assistant, but eventually correctly awarded the goal to a roar of relief from the home support.

If anyone had any doubts about McGregor in the Rangers goal, he showed that his class was permanent soon after to stop the game getting away from the visitors with barely quarter of an hour on the clock.

A horrendous mistake from James Tavernier allowed Jota to get a fierce, curling shot away that McGregor palmed high into the sky. Giorgos Giakoumakis steamed in above Connor Goldson and bulleted a header on target that the 40-year-old keeper sprung up to repel brilliantly.

Moments later, he was at it again, as Celtic tore the Rangers backline to shreds once more to get Abada in down the right. His cutback was struck at goal by Giakoumakis, but again McGregor got an arm up to tip over.

Rangers had to settle quickly, but also get out of their own territory, and a rare burst forward saw Celtic’s McGregor take one for the team – and take a booking - by hauling down Arfield as he looked to break through the middle.

Rangers at last got some controlled possession as we neared the interval, and they almost drew level as Aribo’s brilliant pass put Arfield in on goal. Or so it seemed. Joe Hart raced from his line and smothered bravely. It was to prove crucial, as moments later, the ball was in the net again at the other end.

A swift Celtic counter saw the ball swept to Hatate at the edge of the area, and Rangers had clearly failed to heed the lesson. He got his head up and curled a peach past McGregor with his right foot into the keeper’s bottom left-hand corner. And Rangers fell to bits.

The game had barely restarted and the ball was in the net once more. Jota swung a cross in from the left, the woefully out of sorts Barisic stood frozen, as the rest of his team had in the face of the Celtic onslaught. Abada was on the move though, and he darted in on the blindside to poke home the third.

The Croatian was predictably hooked at half-time, along with Glen Kamara and Amad Diallo, as Giovanni van Bronckhorst brought on Leon Balogun, Ryan Jack and Fashion Sakala in a desperate bid to turn the tide.

It at least seemed to disrupt Celtic’s rhythm a little, with the early stages of the second half characterised by the frantic exchange of possession between the teams.

Rangers had the odd sniff, with the hitherto peripheral Ryan Kent getting a bit of joy down the left and Ryan Jack cracking the bar, but it was little more than the defiant swings of a punch-drunk fighter.

Celtic couldn’t keep up their earlier break-neck speed, and made their own changes to try to wrest back control of the game, Hatate being hailed all around as he trooped off.

How he has announced himself on Scottish football. And how Celtic have announced their credentials in the title race.