As they rolled with it and cavorted in the aftermath of a win that wasn’t just a victory but what felt like a statement of supremacy it was easy to spot the newbies to this fixture. Of Celtic’s starting line-up last night only Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor lived through the trauma of last season and the ignominy of a campaign where the Parkhead side finished 25 points off the pace of a Rangers side who went through the league unbeaten.
McGregor’s old head lent itself to a calmness that was not just confined to the pulsating arena in the middle of the park. Unmasked but still dictating play, the Scotland internationalist could be seen urging those around them to keep a lid on their partying as they celebrated the win. He was mindful perhaps, of a screaming Steven Gerrard celebration into the eye of a SKY television camera in 2019 on the back of a Rangers win at Celtic Park.
If last night felt definitive in the shaping of a campaign where Rangers have watched a six-point lead dissipate like stale cigar smoke over the course of just three weeks and curl into a one point deficit, the performance from Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic was every bit as notable and significant as the win.
In truth, Rangers looked spooked before a ball was kicked. That Ross County equaliser still stinging, the echoes of doubt led to an Ibrox side whose vulnerability seemed as obvious as a missing front tooth. Celtic did not just scent the weakness but exploited it and then some. Borna Barisic was twisted and turned as Josip Juranovic, Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada gave him such a torrid 45 minutes that he did not return from the dressing room after the break. At one point McGregor scoffing at him for not having the courage to take him on seemed to be the night in microcosm.
The opening half was lopsided and unbalanced as Postecoglou’s side eviscerated Rangers with a speed and movement that rendered the Ibrox side so disorientated they could not get out their own half. It is no exaggeration to suggest that without Allan McGregor the scoreline would have been more commanding.
If last season was played out in the odd and eerily caverns of empty stadia, last night had a chorus of 60,000 creating a din that piled the pressure on Rangers every bit as much as the rampant, straight-out-of-the-blocks start that Celtic made to the game. It has been a feature of Postecoglou’s side but has not always brought the immediate return it did last night when the suspicion that Celtic have unearthed a diamond in Reo Hatate was confirmed by a display so complete that the Japanese midfielder finished the night with two goals and an assist.
But back to McGregor. The Celtic captain showed courage in the donning of a protective mask to aid a serious cheekbone injury with the remnants of a black eye still visible from that bruising Scottish Cup win in Alloa. Rangers’ wounds will take longer to heal after a game that seemed to emphatically signal a shift in power between these two rivals. There was sensible caution in McGregor’s immediate post-match interview, though. Urging an immediate look to Fir Park on Sunday it was not just a captain’s directive but a reminder from someone who has been over the course before.
Celtic’s win last night takes them 22 domestic games unbeaten. It eclipses Rangers’ run of 20 last season – their Cup defeats puncturing an unblemished league campaign – and suggests that Postecoglou’s side have the wind firmly at their backs now. The performance from Rangers felt like a collapse but Celtic would be unwise to offer any encouragement as they look to go and turn the screw.
McGregor’s insistence of caution echoes Postecoglou’s ‘we go again’ mantra and felt reminiscent of Brendan Rodgers’ time at the club. There was a sense last night that Celtic have rediscovered their swagger in this fixture with a performance that was far removed from the tentative self-doubt of last season.
At no point this term has Postecoglou been able to put his best team on the park yet. The remarks of both he and McGregor that Hatate is still to get ‘sharper’ may well send tremors through the rest of the league. For now, though, it is all eyes on the job.
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